Human Security and Protection from Refoulement in the Maritime Context

Abstract

Issues of human security are of greatest relevance in the context of physical security and survival. Individuals fleeing situations of armed conflict or targeted persecution have always sought protection through flight, frequently by crossing international borders on land. More recently, as states have erected significant obstacles to crossing land borders, maritime border crossings have become more prevalent. This chapter reviews the human security risks inherent in such maritime crossings, with particular attention to protection gaps that exist in both rescue-at-sea and maritime interception practices. Most notable are an increased risk of refoulement, a lack of systematic and uniform access to asylum procedures, and obstructed access to temporary protection of a uniform standard. This Article reviews relevant maritime interception and rescue-at-sea practices by evaluating the nature and scope of legal protection that each mechanism affords to maritime refugees, and canvasses a worrisome trend in state practice involving abuse of the rescue at sea tradition.