'Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea: An Endeavour to Connect Law of the Sea and International Human Rights Law' by Natalie Klein in (2022) 53(2)-(3) Ocean Development and International Law (forthcoming) comments
The Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea was officially launched on 1 March 2022. The document was produced by the non-governmental organization, Human Rights at Sea, and responds to an undoubted need to prevent human rights violations at sea and to provide redress to victims of such abuses. Connecting the international human rights regime with the law of the sea has been one of many challenges to respond to this issue. This article explores the content of the Geneva Declaration and its alignment with existing law of the sea. Beyond the jurisdictional complexities presented, it is important to consider how this informal instrument holds relevance for international lawmaking. While there are obstacles, the Geneva Declaration creates a needed opportunity to bring attention to and clarity around the legal protections of human rights at sea.
Klein argues
It is estimated that 30 million people are present in the ocean every day. The range of activities undertaken is varied, as is the allocation of responsibilities for the conduct of those activities. Rather than a vast, blue, limitless expanse, the oceans are divided into a series of zones wherein States have different rights and responsibilities in relation to the people who are present in those zones. Yet the immensity of ocean space has allowed States to neglect the rights owed to certain individuals. People at sea may be victims of sexual assault, indentured in modern forms of slavery, fleeing persecution in unseaworthy vessels and yet face limited opportunities to assert their rights or to seek remedies for violations of those rights.
Part of the reason for the lack of protection of human rights at sea is an apparent disconnect between human rights law and the law of the sea. Human rights law has traditionally focused on land-based activities where there is relative clarity as to which State has responsibility to uphold human rights. Moreover, human rights violations on land have usually been easier to detect and expose, and mechanisms are more likely to exist to seek redress for those violations. At sea, the responsibilities of a coastal State diminish across the maritime space extending away from it, and obligations at sea are possibly shared among more than one State depending on the activity and location of any vessel. These jurisdictional complexities have hindered a ready application and enforcement of human rights law at sea. The law of the sea has rarely gone beyond exhortations that ‘considerations of humanity’ apply. However, increasing awareness of the risk and reality of human rights violations at sea has been prompting greater efforts to read these areas of law together.
The Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea (Geneva Declaration) is the latest endeavour to affirm the applicability of human rights at sea and to provide greater clarity as to when States are responsible for upholding human rights and remedying their violation. It was drafted and launched under the auspices of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Human Rights at Sea. This informal instrument is thus an NGO-led initiative and potentially aligns with other law-making efforts of civil society actors that have led to the adoption of a treaty. A short overview of the Geneva Declaration is set out in Section 2.
The Geneva Declaration prompts a series of questions as to how it connects international human rights law with the law of the sea. The main lines of enquiry explored in the study below consider, in Section 3, how the Geneva Declaration allocates responsibilities to States to uphold human rights in different maritime zones and the ways it aligns (or not) with existing jurisprudence on human rights responsibilities. Section 4 addresses the interaction of the Geneva Declaration with the existing law of the sea as a possible source of international law, and in the context of international law-making. While the journey ahead is not without challenges, the Geneva Declaration has the potential to bring attention to, and clarity around, the legal protection of human rights at sea.
