Border Deaths at Sea Under the Right to Life in the European Convention on Human Rights

This book focuses on border deaths at sea. It unravels how the interplay of the law of the sea and rules on jurisdiction widen the opportunity for states to make and enforce rules outside their territory, and questions whether this is also accompanied with an obligation to respect the right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) when doing so.

By embarking upon the challenge of analysing a cross-border phenomenon in which direct encounters between state agents and the victims are few through the lens of legal obligations, the book unearths avenues for arguing that the ECHR is applicable to border deaths on the high seas and showcases the Court’s creativity in bridging the gap between the Convention and people in need of protection. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the ECHR is applicable to border deaths occurring within the territorial seas of states. It discusses the right to life, as well as the specific obligations of states in respect to border deaths at sea, and demonstrates that in many instances, EU policies fall short of the standards set under the right to life.

This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners in migrant rights, international human rights law, public international law including, refugee and migration law, maritime law, and security studies.

Lisa-Marie Komp is Lecturer at the VU Amsterdam and Attorney at Law (international law and human rights) at Prakken d’Oliveira Human Rights Lawyers, The Netherlands.