India and Liberia Launch a UN ‘Group of Friends’ to Protect Ships and Seafarers

The news

United Nations, New York. India and Liberia on Friday, September 25, launched the ‘Group of Friends on Safety & Security of Shipping & Seafarers’ at a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, the Indian Express (PTI) and The Economic Times report. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar co-chaired the inaugural meeting with Liberia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Sara Beysolow Nyanti, and the two countries will serve as co-chairs. A ‘group of friends’ at the UN is an informal, voluntary club of member states that agree to push one issue together; it has no treaty powers. The pairing is deliberate: India is a major source country for seafarers, and Liberia hosts the largest shipping registry by tonnage. The group brings together major ship-owning states, the countries with the largest ship registries and those that supply the most seafarers. “From the Black Sea to the Red Sea to the Gulf, attacks on civilian shipping have become a growing cause of concern. These actions that disrupt maritime commerce and cost innocent lives are simply indefensible,” Mr. Jaishankar said. Two days earlier, the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier MV Cape Dao was attacked in the Gulf of Oman, killing an Indian sailor; earlier, the Panama-flagged oil tanker El Gaia was struck while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and an Indian crew member went missing. The Express identifies the dead sailor as Suraj Yadav, 22, of Deoria in Uttar Pradesh, who had joined the ship on August 19, and Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said all surviving crew, including 19 Indian nationals, had been evacuated. In June another Deoria seafarer, Shivanand Chaurasia, was killed in an attack on a tanker off Oman, and a review chaired by Mr. Sonowal has launched a ‘Seafarer-First’ initiative for Indian sailors in conflict zones. Mr. Jaishankar said nearly two million seafarers operate the world’s merchant fleet and that shipping carries four-fifths of global trade. The group is to be an “inclusive, voluntary, and action-oriented platform”. This continues the 24 September card on the Cape Dao attack; what is new is India’s move from consular response to multilateral rule-building. The syllabus link is GS2 (India and multilateral bodies, effect of other countries’ policies on Indian interests) and GS3 (security challenges in maritime space).

Static syllabus linkage

1. Under UNCLOS the flag state, not the crew’s country, is primarily responsible for a ship. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS) gives every state the right to sail ships under its flag and requires a “genuine link” between the state and the ship (Article 91). Article 94 places on the flag state the duty to exercise jurisdiction and control over administrative, technical and social matters, including manning and labour conditions. On the high seas a ship is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of its flag state (Article 92). This is why India, whose nationals die on foreign-flagged ships, has limited legal handles and must work through flag states such as Liberia and Panama.
2. Open registries, or ‘flags of convenience’, dominate world shipping. An open registry lets a shipowner of any nationality register a vessel under its flag, usually for lower taxes, fees and labour costs. Liberia, Panama and the Marshall Islands are the largest open registries, and Liberia’s registry is administered commercially from outside the country. Critics say the genuine-link requirement is honoured in form rather than substance, and that weak flag-state oversight leaves crews exposed to abandonment and unsafe conditions. The International Transport Workers’ Federation has long campaigned against flags of convenience on these grounds.
3. The IMO sets safety rules while the ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention protects the crew. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN specialised agency headquartered in London, is responsible for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution; its key instruments include SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) and the ISPS Code on ship and port security. The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC), adopted by the International Labour Organization, is often called the seafarers’ bill of rights; it sets minimum standards on employment agreements, wages, hours of rest, repatriation and medical care. India has ratified the MLC. Port states can inspect foreign ships for MLC compliance, which gives crew-supplying and port states a lever independent of the flag.
4. India has rewritten its shipping law and treats seafarers as a national asset. Per a PIB release, Parliament passed the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2025, which replaces the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, the principal law on registration of Indian ships, certification of seafarers and safety. The Directorate General of Shipping under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways regulates seafarer training and certification. India is among the leading suppliers of officers and ratings to the global fleet, and its maritime outlook, articulated as SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and later MAHASAGAR, presents India as a first responder and security provider in the Indian Ocean. Freedom of navigation, a customary principle codified in UNCLOS, is a stated pillar of India’s Indo-Pacific policy.

Why UPSC loves this

1. GS2 asks about India’s role in multilateral and issue-based coalitions. UPSC has asked about India’s participation in plurilateral groupings and about the effect of the policies of developed and developing countries on India’s interests. A Group of Friends co-chaired with an African registry state is a live example of issue-based coalition building, and fits answers on India as a ‘voice of the Global South’.
2. Maritime security is a recurring GS3 theme. Questions have asked about maritime security challenges for India, piracy in the Western Indian Ocean and the importance of sea lines of communication. The Red Sea and Hormuz attacks on merchant shipping, with Indian crews killed, are a stronger case than piracy because the attackers are state or state-backed actors.
3. Prelims tests maritime institutions and conventions. Expect questions on UNCLOS zones and flag-state jurisdiction, on the IMO versus the ILO, and on which body adopted the Maritime Labour Convention. Chokepoints — the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab-el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Oman — are standard map questions.

Analysis

1. India has a crew problem but no flag, so it has chosen a coalition over unilateral escort. Both ships named by Mr. Jaishankar flew other countries’ flags — Antigua and Barbuda and Panama — so under UNCLOS India cannot claim primary jurisdiction over them. India’s navy can and does escort Indian-flagged ships, but most Indian seafarers work on foreign-flagged vessels. Pairing with Liberia, the largest registry, links the country that supplies the people with a country that supplies the legal flag. That is a clever design: flag states have the legal standing, crew states have the political motive, and together they can move the IMO and the Security Council more than either alone.
2. A ‘voluntary’ platform can raise costs of attacks only if it names attackers. Mr. Jaishankar listed attacks from the Black Sea to the Gulf but, as reported, did not name who fired the missiles. A group that avoids attribution will produce statements, not deterrence. The counter-view is that India is deliberately neutral in the West Asia war and needs working relations with Iran, the Gulf states and the United States, so a platform that could name one side would lose members. The honest assessment is that the group’s first value is humanitarian — evacuation, repatriation, compensation — not military.
3. Seafarers are India’s overseas labour force at sea, and their deaths are a livelihood issue. Suraj Yadav was the first person from his village to work on a commercial vessel, the Express reports, and a second Deoria seafarer died in June. Seafaring is a route into the middle class for young men from inland districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, just as Gulf migration is for Kerala. When war risk rises, insurers raise premiums, shipowners seek cheaper or more desperate crews, and the risk is pushed down to the lowest-paid ratings. The ‘Seafarer-First’ initiative must therefore deal with contracts and insurance, not only with evacuation.
4. Open registries are part of the problem the group is trying to solve. Flags of convenience exist because they reduce owners’ costs, often by reducing oversight. Liberia leading a safety initiative is a sign of reform in the registry business, but it also shows the contradiction: flag states profit from registration fees while their capacity to protect ships in a war zone is minimal. If the group pushes flag states to accept real responsibilities — war-risk clauses, crew repatriation, compensation — it will be meaningful. If it stays at declarations, the gap between legal responsibility and practical protection will remain.
5. The initiative also serves India’s Security Council campaign. The launch came in the week India was campaigning for the 2028-29 elected seat. Co-chairing with an African state on a practical issue gives India a talking point with small island and coastal states, many of which operate registries or supply crews. That is legitimate diplomacy, but the group will be judged by whether it continues after the General Assembly week ends. A standing secretariat or a regular meeting schedule would be the test.

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