In this context, CiRAM contributed to the European public consultation by providing its scientific and legal expertise on maritime governance and maritime spatial planning, with a view to ensuring a coherent and effective implementation of existing European objectives.

• Call for evidence for an impact assessment
• Feedback from: CiRAM (2 February 2026)

Its main goal is to create a Common Mediterranean Space, based on three pillars:

• people, innovation, and connectivity

• stronger, sustainable, and integrated economies

• security, preparedness, and migration management

The Council highlights the need to:

• enhance economic integration, trade, and investment

• develop the blue economy, energy cooperation, and connectivity

• create jobs and reduce social inequalities

Key priorities also include:

• addressing climate change, environmental degradation, and water scarcity

• promoting education, youth employment, and cultural heritage

The Council calls for stronger cooperation in security, conflict prevention, and organised crime, while promoting human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.

On migration, it supports a comprehensive, rights-based approach to:

• prevent irregular migration

• protect migrants and refugees

• improve return and readmission policies

Finally, the Council stresses the importance of strategic communication to increase awareness of the Pact.

Call for abstracts

Volume 5 – ‘Unilateralism, Fragmentation, and the Evolving Balance of Power in the Law of the Sea’

The Yearbook on the Law of the Sea (YLoS) is a Scopus-indexed, peer-reviewed journal devoted to the advancement of rigorous and interdisciplinary scholarship in the field of ocean governance and the law of the sea.

Entitled “Unilateralism, Fragmentation, and the Evolving Balance of Power in the Law of the Sea,” the Call for abstract of Volume 5 invites original, analytically grounded, and forward-looking contributions that critically examine the evolving interplay between multilateral cooperation and unilateral conduct in the maritime domain. Submissions are particularly encouraged to engage with the legal, institutional, and geopolitical dimensions of contemporary ocean governance and to assess the capacity of international law to sustain collective management and normative coherence amid growing fragmentation and power asymmetries in the international order.

Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers are encouraged to submit abstracts that offer original insights into the evolution of the international law of the sea, both in theory and in practice.

• Content of the Call for Abstracts — YLoS Volume 5
• Abstract submission form
• Instructions for authors

Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 31 December 2025.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Mekhala Dave – Ocean space: Timeless relations
• Pierandrea Leucci – Introductory remarks
• (H.E.) Konrad Jan Marciniak – High tide for human rights: Some reflections from the perspective of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
• (H.E.) Liesbeth Lijnzaad – Considerations of humanity and human rights at sea
• Irini Papanicolopulu – Human rights and the law of the sea: From concept to action
• Matteo Bedendi – Human rights in a shifting maritime landscape
• Mutaz M. Qafisheh and Anisha Patel – The nexus between the law of the sea and human rights law in the context of maritime occupation: The case of Palestine
• Eric Loefflad and Vicky Kapogianni – China’s maritime militias, human rights, and the law of the sea: Contested norms in a shifting international legal order
• Cristina Canella – Claiming Indigenous rights: The unacknowledged amicus curiae submission by the Chagossian Committee (Seychelles)
• Filippo Cerboni – Artificial intelligence and human rights at sea: Legal challenges and opportunities in maritime governance
• Marilù Porchia – The Italian Civil Aviation Authority’s ban on human rights monitoring over the Mediterranean and Law Decree 145/2024: State interference in private rescue operations
• Aphrodite Papachristodoulou – Out of sight, out of mind? Migrant deaths and disappearances at sea and the interplay of the law of the sea and human rights law obligations
• Pierandrea Leucci – The limits of certification mechanisms and the role of flag States in the maritime trade of coltan from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Tullio Scovazzi – The marine manifestations of intangible cultural heritage
• Kiara Neri and Pascale Ricard – Tides of change: Climate impacts, human rights, and maritime legal frameworks
• Nouwagnon Olivier Afogo – The justiciability of the ‘right to consume seafood’ in the context of climate change
• Elena Ardito – Sinking States’ open questions: Continuity of statehood and human rights protection of forcibly displaced people. The case of Tuvalu in the light of the Falepili Union Treaty
• Victoria Chiu – La justice climatique et les peuples autochtones côtiers en Amérique du Sud
• Anna Pedrajas – Le droit international au secours du patrimoine culturel marin et côtier face aux changements climatiques
• Kiara Neri – The first climate cases of the European Courts: What implications for the sea?
• Pierandrea Leucci, Chiara Pavesi, and Pierre Clément Mingozzi – Concluding remarks
• Ademuni Odeke, Andrea Caligiuri, Daud Hassan, Pierandrea Leucci, Alice Ollino, Irini Papanicolopulu, Andrea Pappalardo, and Tullio Scovazzi – Request for a legal opinion by the BDS National Committee on the regime of innocent passage and the due diligence obligations of flag States under the international law of the sea

We are pleased to announce a Call for Papers for the upcoming International Conference on Global Frameworks and Strategies to Climate Change, Environmental Migration, and Sustainable Development Challenges, which will take place at the University of Macerata on 19-20 February 2026.

This Symposium is a key event in the research project ‘The Phenomenon of Environmental and Climatic Migrations and its Impact on Economic and Social Dynamics in the Euro-Mediterranean Region’, which is funded by the University of Macerata and involves several Italian and European researchers.

Please submit your abstract (max 500 words, plus a short bibliography) and a short CV by 20 October 2025 to ciram.unimc@gmail.com. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 31 October 2025.

• Call for Papers

The Italian Centre for the Law of the Sea (ICLOS) is an initiative aimed at promoting excellence in research, training and the dissemination of knowledge in the fields of the law of the sea, maritime spatial planning and the blue economy. It also seeks to enhance the maritime dimension in the Italian cultural landscape.

The Centre was established through the collaboration of six prestigious universities: Rome Tor Vergata (the administrative headquarters), Genoa, Macerata, Messina, Naples "L'Orientale" and Milan-Bicocca, all of which have a strong tradition of studying the law of the sea.

The Centre's primary objective is to provide Italian scholars with an ideal environment in which to conduct collaborative research; to this end, it remains open to future collaborations with other universities and actively encourages individual researchers from other institutions to participate in its activities.

Through an interdisciplinary approach, the Centre aims to provide innovative solutions to global challenges related to the governance of the sea and the management of human activities at sea.

• ICLOS Founding Convention (IT)
• Director of ICLOS | Prof. Fiammetta Borgia, University of Rome Tor Vergata
• Download the presentation in PDF (IT)

Macerata Research Unit

• Andrea Caligiuri (Coordinator)
• Maria Ciotti
• Gianluca Contaldi
• Fulvio Costantino
• Simona Epasto
• Chiara Feliziani
• Fabrizio Marongiu Buonaiuti
• Laura Salvadego
• Carmen Vitale

R. Acquaroli, A. Caligiuri (a cura di), L'Italia e la repressione dei crimini internazionali

Napoli, Editoriale Scientifica, 2024

• eBook (open access)

This legal opinion was commissioned by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee to the Associazione di Consulenza in Diritto del Mare (ASCOMARE), and was prepared in a personal capacity by the following experts, listed alphabetically: Ademuni Odeke, Alice Ollino, Andrea Caligiuri, Andrea Pappalardo, Daud Hassan, Irini Papanicolopulu, Pierandrea Leucci and Tullio Scovazzi. Research support was provided by Pierre Clément Mingozzi, Andrea Valentina Salamino and Matteo Bedendi.

The legal opinion leaves no space for doubt: governments need to act now to stop their complicity in Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide, including complicity related to maritime transfers.

• https://ascomare.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ascomare-legal-opinion-_-innocent-passage-and-due-diligence.pdf

A. Caligiuri, M. Carletti, M. Ciotti (a cura di), Diritti negati e violenza contro le donne nell'area mediterranea

Napoli, Editoriale Scientifica, 2024

• eBook (open access)