Greece was actively involved in the process to develop a Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and was among the first group of states to endorse the Political Declaration in Dublin in November 2022. Greece regularly delivered statements throughout the consultations towards a Political Declaration, repeatedly voicing its concern about the indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas. In its statements to the 2020 consultations, Greece suggested including the phrase “disproportionate use” as the focus of the Political Declaration.1 Later in the consultation process, Greece stated that the Declaration should not seek to establish restrictions going beyond existing provisions of international humanitarian law (IHL), and strongly suggested the term “indiscriminate” be included in order to highlight the problem of unlawful use of explosive weapons. It also expressed its preference for the term "indirect effects" instead of "reverberating effects" throughout the text.2
Statements and positions
Greece has spoken in multilateral forums in support of the Declaration. At the UN General Assembly First Committee in 2022, Greece highlighted the new Political Declaration’s utility in addressing the impacts of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas3, and the following year recognised the importance of the Political Declaration, saying it would pave the way to the Oslo Conference in 2024.4
Alongside its individual statements, Greece has repeatedly aligned with other states to deliver statements on explosive weapons in populated areas. Greece has condemned the use of explosive weapons in populated areas in numerous joint statements, including as a member of the Human Security Network at both the August 2013 UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict5 and the 2014 UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict.6 In these statements, the Human Security Network called for all parties to an armed conflict to refrain from using explosive weapons with a wide impact area in populated areas, emphasising that these weapons are indiscriminate within their zones of detonation and therefore pose unacceptable risks to civilians.
As a member of the European Union (EU), Greece has signed onto numerous joint statements condemning the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and the harms it causes to civilians and civilian objects, as well as calling for greater IHL compliance. This includes at several UN Security Council open debates on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict 7 and at the General Debate of UN General Assembly First Committee8, as well as at the 2022 UN Security Council open debate on War in Cities where the EU expressed concern over the indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas, including near hospitals, schools, and universities.9 The EU, with Greece signing on, has also repeatedly welcomed the Political Declaration on explosive weapons in populated areas – at the 2022 Dublin Conference, the 2022 and 2023 UN General Assembly First Committee (where it highlighted the work ahead for implementing the Declaration’s commitments), and at the 2023 UN Security Council open debate on the Protection of Civilians. Greece also aligned with the World Humanitarian Summit Core Commitments to ‘Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity’ as an EU member state in May 2016. This included the commitment “to promote and enhance the protection of civilians and civilian objects, especially in the conduct of hostilities, for instance by working to prevent civilian harm resulting from the use of wide-area explosive weapons in populated areas, and by sparing civilian infrastructure from military use in the conduct of military operations.”10