The United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) recently published a novel recommendation on a joint complaint lodged by Syrian and Palestinian nationals against Italy. The complaint focused on Italy’s failure to respond to various distress calls made by migrants aboard a sinking vessel, resulting in more than 200 casualties, including children. The HRC in its recommendation rightly acknowledged Italy’s failure to comply with human rights law and international obligations, and it introduced for the first time the idea of a “special relationship of dependency” between people in distress and a state.

THE CASE AGAINST ITALY

On 10 October 2013, a vessel departed Libya carrying more than 400 individuals escaping Syria, headed for the coast of South Italy. At 113 km away from the Italian island of Lampedusa and 218 km away from Malta, the vessel started sinking with survivors reporting that vast amounts of water started flooding the vessel at a fast pace. At 11:00 am, the alarmed passengers made several distress calls to the Italian authorities, however they were only instructed to contact the Maltese authorities on the basis that the area fell within the Maltese jurisdiction. Moreover, the Italian authorities only provided the passengers with a phone number while reassuring them that they will soon be rescued. After almost 6 hours and several desperate phone calls, the Maltese authorities finally arrived at the scene only to find that the vessel had already sunk. At 6:00 pm the Italian boat ITS Libra arrived to conduct a much-delayed search and rescue operation.

In the joint claim lodged by migrants who survived the tragedy but who lost family members, it was claimed that Italy violated article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) by not respecting the right to life of the people aboard the vessel. Moreover, the authors of the claim argued that Italian authorities tried to “pass responsibility” of the rescue operation to the Maltese authorities. They further argued that Italy was negligent as it failed to act in accordance with its international obligations under international law of the sea and under the Safety of Life at Sea Regulations. On the other hand, Italy argued that the events occurred outside Italian territorial waters and outside Italy’s search and rescue area, meaning that the facts under review do not fall within its jurisdiction.

The HRC published its recommendation on 27 January 2021, finding that Italy had indeed violated the right to life of individuals on board of the vessel in line with article 6 ICCPR by failing to promptly conduct a search and rescue operation. Likewise, Italy failed to conduct an independent and effective investigation of the events after the tragedy occurred. The HRC urged Italy to provide effective remedies to the people who lost their family in the tragedy.

SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP OF DEPENDENCY

While substantiating its recommendation, the Committee referred for the first time to the concept of a special relationship of dependency which arose between Italy and the migrants aboard the vessel. The Committee argued that a special relationship of dependency was formed the moment that the first phone calls were made by the migrants to the Italian authorities, who gave reassurances to the migrants that they will be rescued. Consequently, the Committee argued that because of this relationship, Italy’s extraterritorial jurisdiction was extended and therefore Italy was in violation of the right to life of the migrants under article 6 ICCPR.

Even though the Committee’s majority recommendation faced opposition through several dissenting opinions, the recommendation is a very welcome development due to its potential impact on safeguarding human rights of migrants and refugees at sea. The Human Rights Committee is a body of the United Nations made up of independent experts who monitor the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Recommendations issued by the Committee after individual or joint complaints act as a form of guidance on state’s actions in relation to their responsibilities under the ICCPR.

Based on the above and in light of this positive development in the jurisprudence, the Committee’s recommendation could potentially amount to a guiding principle for states in upholding their responsibilities of search and rescue at sea based on their obligation of respecting the right to life of migrants and refugees. In 2021, it remains vital that states comply with these obligations, since, according to the United Nations, “more than 20,000 refugees died in the Mediterranean since 2013”.

Christina is currently working as a caseworker at the European Asylum Support Office in Cyprus. She is a qualified lawyer/advocate by the Cyprus Bar Association and an LLM holder in International Law from University College London. Her interests include human rights, women's rights, and refugee rights. Christina is also a UN volunteer and aims to develop a career in research and policy reform.

LinkedIn