Paix et Securité Internationales

Nouvelle Série – Version électronique

Issue #1 (2013)

Irregular Migration Across the Mediterranean Sea: Problematic Issues Concerning the International Rules on Safeguard of Life at Sea

Marcello DI FILIPPO

Migración irregular en el mar Mediterráneo: aspectos problemáticos relativos a las reglas internacionales sobre la protección de la vida en el mar.

Abstract: Migration by sea is a phenomenon which is largely associated with irregular flows and growing concern by destination States about border control and integrity of restrictive migration policies. Only incidentally, the human rights’ costs are extensively debated. The Mediterranean Sea is a crucial scenario which highlights the difficulty encountered by the Search and Rescue regime to cope with the techniques adopted by smugglers and with the additional tensions provoked by some features of EU migration law. The SAR provisions are inherently accompanied by certain elasticity, in order to take into account the variety of concrete situations. In a regional context characterized by political divergences among European states and between the latters and transit countries, some IMO and EU’s attempts to draw a solution are evaluated: it clearly emerges that the failures to find out a reasonable compromise are due to factors external to maritime law. Such factors must be addressed with more courage by the EU member states: the hot issue of the burden sharing; a really comprehensive dialogue with origin countries and transit countries on the complex subject of international migration; the renunciation to ask the cooperation of states with a negative human rights record. Absent a more far reaching policy, dramatic events and hidden deaths will sadly continue, as far as the crocodile tears of European politicians when some incident eventually reaches the attention of media and of public opinion.

Key Words: irregular migration; maritime law; Search and Rescue regime; IMO; EU; burden sharing; human rights; international cooperation.

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Paix et Sécurité Internationales

ISSN 2341-0868