The House of Lords International Relations and Defence Select Committee received additional expert evidence from Dr Sofia Galani, Assistant Professor in Public International Law, Panteion University, Greece, and Professor Natalie Klein of the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia, covering the issue of the lack of application of human rights at sea under the UNCLOS regime.
Namely, Dr Galani and Professor Klein provided evidence on a wide range of issues that challenge the fitness of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (‘UNCLOS’) including focusing on a recent addition to the narrative; “that being the lack of explicit protection of human rights at sea.”
UNCLOS failures
At first, both highlighted that UNCLOS fails to protect human rights at sea as in the way it has structured states’ jurisdiction of what they can and cannot do as set against established maritime zones.
The two principles covering freedom of navigation and exclusive jurisdiction of the flag state both hinder the effective monitoring and compliance with human rights at sea particularly on the high seas where human rights abuses often occur with impunity and without public knowledge
Scope of human rights at sea
Another important point that was raised in oral evidence was on the full scope of human rights at sea.
The public is often made aware about migrants and refugees moving by sea because of the politicised nature of the topic that attracts media attention and secures votes. Yet, the gaps in the narrative include the scale of unexplained deaths at sea exampled by the murder of fisheries observers at sea
It also includes the scale and reporting of missing seafarers, of young cadets who are being physically abused, of sexual harassment incidents onboard commercial and cruise ships, of seafarers abandoned in foreign ports with some living in destitution leading to mental distress and suicides at sea.
Flags of Convenience
What is more, Lord Teverson of Tregony, the Patron of Human Rights at Sea, raised the thorny issue regarding the open registries “that are corporate entities registered by a state that are unwilling or unable to monitor and enforce human rights’ protections at sea.”
Professor Klein responded that flags of convenience with their open registries:
Are not willing to protect human rights at sea because their own commercial interests and the trillion dollars in profit the shipping industry makes a year that trumps human rights’ protections
Professor Klein a;sp argued that the international community needs to hold flags states accountable and enact strict regulation that would force them to comply with international human rights’ obligations.
UNCLOS improvement
In order to improve UNCLOS, HRAS notes that it should be supplemented with a new regulation that will effectively protect human rights at sea without having to resort to ‘legal gymnastics’ was highlighted by both experts.
Other ways of supplementing UNCLOS are international regulations at IMO level specifically on the issue of flag state accountability, or soft law instruments that take a holistic approach to human rights protection at sea by bringing together applicable law and best practice.
