C.C.P.R., 27 January 2021, S.A. et al. v. Malta, Comm. no. 3043/2017 and S.A. et al. v. Italy, Comm. no. 3042/2017

Rescue operations at sea and human rights

Abstract

The UN Human Rights Committee has rendered a decision regarding the application of human rights to rescue operations at sea in response to communications brought against Malta and Italy. The Committee’s move to apply human rights extraterritorially to persons in distress at sea has generally been welcomed, but the precise reasons for doing so raise several questions. While commentaries have primarily focussed on the ‘factual’ or ‘causal’ grounds to prop the so-called extraterritorial ‘human rights jurisdiction’ of Malta and Italy, this contribution focuses on the role of legal obligations arising under the law of the sea in justifying ‘human rights jurisdiction’.