The European Union is investing in growing protections for persons at sea with the newly established EU COST Action: 'Life, liberty and health: ensuring universal protection of human rights at sea (BlueRights)'.

The BlueRights project concerns the emerging legal field of human rights at sea. It investigates how the most fundamental universal human rights - the right to life, liberty and health can also be granted to people at sea, and what states and other actors must do to achieve this goal.

The project will run for 4 years and will bring together academics and practitioners working at the interface of the law of the sea and human rights. At the time of application, the network comprised 73 people from 38 different countries working for universities, international organizations, public authorities and NGOs.

The COST Action was secured in June 2024 by the Chair, Prof Anna Petrig of Basel University, Switzerland, supported by the Co-Chair, Prof Irini Papanicolopulu, of the School of Oriental and Arican Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Human Rights at Sea and Human Rights at Sea International is closely supporting this essential academic-focused work.

Detail

While the oceans are attracting growing attention, people at sea still receive little consideration by stakeholders, scholars and the public at large. The frequent violations of their most basic human rights, which safeguard their life, liberty and health, often go unseen and unpunished. This happens all over the world, including in European seas. Thus, death, slavery, unlawful arrest and other human rights violations result in practical negation of the universality of human rights – the idea that all persons are equally entitled to human rights – advocated by the European Union and the United Nations. 

The Action aims to assess, from a legal perspective, how human rights can be enjoyed also by people at sea and by all people at sea. It will answer two fundamental questions: What is the content and scope of the rights to life, liberty and health when applied at sea and who is responsible for protecting them and how? 

The Action will create an international, multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral and cross-institutional network, which will engage in depth with the conceptual and practical issues that arise from the need to protect these human rights of people at sea. Using the most appropriate means, including conferences, open and closed workshops, Training Schools and Short-Term Scientific Missions, the Action will bring together scholars and stakeholders working in this area, raising awareness about people at sea and their most basic rights, elaborating the theoretical framework within which to locate legislative efforts, and producing ready-to-use tools for governments, industry and civil society.

For further details: SEE HERE

ENDS.

Source: EU Cost Action

Photo: David Hammond 2024. Annalong. Northern Ireland.

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