United Nations, May 21: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the need to intensify efforts to address the root causes of maritime insecurity.

"Threats to maritime security cannot be addressed without also addressing issues like poverty, a lack of alternative livelihoods, insecurity, and weak governance structures," he told a Security Council open debate.

"Across the United Nations family, we're working with impoverished coastal communities to develop new opportunities for decent and sustainable work. Collectively, we must do more to reduce the likelihood that desperate people will turn to crime and other activities that threaten maritime security and degrade our ocean environment," said Guterres.

He also highlighted the need to help developing countries build their capacity to deal with these threats through technology, training, capacity-building, judicial reforms, and modernised naval forces, marine police units, maritime surveillance and port security. Guterres said respect for international law is the anchor of maritime security, Xinhua news agency reported.

The international legal regime for maritime security, with the UN Charter and the Convention on the Law of the Sea at its core, strikes a careful balance between states' sovereign rights, jurisdictions and freedoms, and their duties and obligations.

And it provides a strong cooperative framework for addressing crimes at sea and ensuring accountability, he said. But the UN chief warned that this framework is only as strong as states' commitment to full and effective implementation.

"All states must live up to their obligations. And they must resolve any differences in relation to maritime security in accordance with the UN Charter," he said. Guterres called for partnerships to enhance maritime security. "We must involve everyone with a stake in maritime spaces," he said.

"As threats to maritime security are becoming more complex and interconnected, enhanced coordination and stronger maritime governance are essential." Without maritime security, there can be no global security.

But maritime spaces are increasingly under strain from both traditional threats and emerging dangers: from challenges around contested boundaries, to the depletion of natural resources at sea, to escalating geopolitical tensions fanning the flames of competition, conflict and crime, he said. No region is spared.

And the problem is getting worse. After a modest global decrease in reported piracy and armed robbery incidents in 2024, the first quarter of 2025 saw a sharp upward reversal, warned Guterres.

Reported incidents rose by nearly half (47.5 per cent) compared with the same period in 2024, he said, citing figures from the International Maritime Organisation. Incidents in Asia nearly doubled, especially in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

In the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, attacks by the Houthis in Yemen on commercial vessels have disrupted global trade and increased tensions in an already volatile region, he noted.

The Gulf of Aden and the Mediterranean remain treacherously active routes for migrant smuggling and the trafficking of weapons and human beings.

The Gulf of Guinea continues to grapple with piracy, kidnappings, armed robbery at sea, oil theft, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and the illicit trafficking of drugs, weapons, and people. Heroin from Afghanistan continues to reach East Africa through the Indian Ocean.

Cocaine moves through the coasts of the Western Hemisphere and across the Atlantic to West Africa and European ports. Cyber-attacks are a fast-emerging security threat for ports and shipping companies, he said.

Over the years, the Security Council has sought to address a range of threats that undermine maritime security and global peace, including piracy, armed robbery, trafficking and organised crime as well as terrorism in the maritime domain, said the UN chief.

The UN system stands ready to continue to support the Security Council and all UN member states in ensuring peaceful, secure and prosperous maritime spaces for generations to come, he said. "Let's take action to support and secure maritime spaces, and the communities and people counting on them."

(IANS)

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