International Law and the Protection of People at Sea

Media interest in the fates of people at sea has heightened across the last decade. The attacks and the hostage taking of victims by Somali pirates, and the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in the Mediterranean, ask pressing questions, as does the sinking of the Costa Concordia off the Italian island of Giglio which, one hundred years after the Titanic capsized, reminded the world that, despite modern navigation systems and technology, shipping is still fallible. Do pirates have human rights? Can migrants at sea be turned back to the State from which they have sailed? How can the crews of vessels be protected against inhuman and degrading working and living conditions? And are States liable under international human rights treaties for arresting drug traffickers on the high seas?

The first text to comprehensively compare the legal rights of different people at sea, Irini Papanicolopulu's timely text argues that there is an overarching duty of the state to protect people at sea and adopt all necessary acts with a view towards ensuring enjoyment of their rights. Rather than being in doubt, she reveals that the emerging law in this area is watertight.

Irini Papanicolopulu, Associate Professor of International Law, University of Milano-Bicocca

Irini Papanicolopulu is Associate Professor in International Law at the University of Milano-Bicocca. She holds a Degree in Law from the University of Milano-Bicocca and a Doctorate in International Law from the University of Milano. She has been a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Oxford, and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow. She is the author of a volume on maritime delimitation edited by the leading Italian legal publisher (Il confine marino: unita o pluralita? (Giuffre Editore 2005)), the editor or co-editor of six collections of essays, and the author of more than 40 book chapters, articles, and conference papers. She has been in-house Legal Advisor to the (Italian) Ministry of the Environment and has acted as a legal expert for the Italian Government and for international governmental and non-governmental organizations.