In 2004, the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union was established. The Agency supports member states in coordinating their border controls. Border controls at sea have, therefore, received increasing attention. Coordinated by FRONTEX, member states carry out border controls not only in their territorial waters, but also on the High Seas and within the territorial waters of third countries. One must assume that at least some of the people on board intercepted vessels are persons in need of international protection. However, some European governments have argued that the principle of non-refoulement does not apply exterritorially. This article will challenge this approach. First, it argues that the principle of non-refoulement, as laid down in the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the European Convention on Human Rights and other international treaties relating to refugee and immigration law does apply beyond the territory of the signatory states. Secondly, it argues why non-refoulement, as a principle of refugee and fundamental rights legislation within European primary and secondary law, does apply beyond the territory of the contracting states. Thirdly, regarding the treatment of protection seekers and migrants at sea, it examines the obligations of border guard authorities to act under maritime, human rights and refugee law and when there is a legal failure to act. Finally, the article examines whether EU secondary law, as well as Border Control Practice, are consistent with these obligations.

This book aims to address ‘boat migration’ with a holistic approach. The different chapters consider the multiple facets of the phenomenon and the complex challenges they pose, bringing together knowledge from several disciplines and regions of the world within a single collection. Together, they provide an integrated picture of transnational movements of people by sea with a view to making a decisive contribution to our understanding of current trends and future perspectives and their treatment from legal-doctrinal, legal-theoretical, and non-legal angles. The final goal is to unpack the tension that exists between security concerns and individual rights in this context and identify tools and strategies to adequately manage its various components, garnering an inter-regional / multi-disciplinary dialogue, including input from international law, law of the sea, maritime security, migration and refugee studies, and human rights, to address the position of ‘migrants at sea’ thoroughly.

This work analyses the legal challenges posed by contemporary practices of extraterritorial immigration control: visas, pre-embarkation checks and the interception of irregular migrants. It examines the international law framework, and provides case-studies from Europe, Australia and the United States.

This edited volume examines the extent to which the various authorities and actors currently performing border management and expulsion-related tasks are subject to accountability mechanisms capable of delivering effective remedies and justice for abuses suffered by migrants and asylum seekers. Member states of the European Union and State Parties to the Council of Europe are under the obligation to establish complaint mechanisms allowing immigrants and/or asylum seekers to seek effective remedies in cases where their rights are violated. This book sheds light on the complaint bodies and procedures existing and available in Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Poland, and Romania. It assesses their role in overseeing, investigating, and redressing cases of human rights violations deriving from violent border and immigration management practices, and expedited expulsion procedures. This book therefore provides an assessment of the practical, legal, and procedural challenges that affect the possibility to lodge complaints and access remedies for human rights violations suffered at the hands of the law enforcement authorities and other security actors operating at land, air, and sea borders, or participating in expulsions procedures – in particular, joint return flights. The volume will be of key interest to students, scholars, and practitioners working on human rights, migration and borders, international law, European law and security studies, EU politics, and more broadly, international relations.

The goal of this subcommittee has been to make sure that the Department of Homeland Security is adequately securing America's many, many miles of border. However, when we talk about border security, sometimes we don't think about our liquid borders that our Nation has. Our coasts obviously need to be secured just like the borders and the deserts of Arizona or across the Northern tier of our Nation as well. Of course, in Michigan we talk about the long, liquid border with Canada, who is our largest trading partner, but, as Mr. Cuellar points out often here, we also have a liquid border in Texas, in the Rio Grande. All of that needs to be secured.