It's time to prevent human rights abuses at seas

The Ocean covers about 72 per cent of the earth's surface. History says people have always depended on the Ocean in many ways. It has always been a source of food, trade and commerce. States had recognised the usefulness and importance of the Ocean and also recognised the need of rules for its governance. And ultimately, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was adopted in 1982 and entered into force in 1994. The UNCLOS is called the Constitution of the Ocean. The question is - do the provisions of UNCLOS adequately cover the rights of people at the Seas? What initiatives can be taken or considered to prevent human rights abuses at the seas?

 

It is true that the UNCLOS covers relatively little about human rights on the seas. However, there are provisions in UNCLOS that do protect human rights at the seas. The question is - do the provisions of UNCLOS adequately cover the rights of people at the Seas? To get the answer to this question, I would like to quote a relevant portion from an article (UNCLOS at 40: What about human rights? 

 

Chris Whomersley, Elsevier, Science Direct, Marine Policy, Volume 148, February 2023, 105424) "The question of the application of human rights to the maritime sphere has risen sharply up the agenda in recent years. But a recent report of a Committee of the House of Lords, the upper house of the United Kingdom's Parliament, commented, rightly it is submitted, that "UNCLOS has little to say about human rights", continuing that "[t]here are significant gaps in the protection of human rights at sea, including in UNCLOS's provisions, because it was developed "before and outside the influence of international human rights law". 

 

 

Professor Papanicolopulu and her colleagues further wrote: "UNCLOS is drafted as if people did not exist at sea, but only vessels, resources and marine species." Similarly, Professor Evanstold us that one of UNCLOS's "huge flaws" is that it has "more to say about protecting fish than about protecting people"".The Committee's Report on the subject "UNCLOS: the law of the sea in the 21st century" is wide-ranging, benefitting from submissions from a large number of eminent specialists from around the world, and one of its particular focuses is on human rights and labour protections at sea. The Report noted with concern that it had "heard that states, including the UK, have a narrow view of human rights at sea as pertaining to labour protections, ignoring other contexts, such as recreation, military, or migration, in which human rights abuses occur".

 

The Committee's consideration of the issue of human rights included sections on migration by sea, forced labour and excessive work conditions, and physical and sexual crimes at sea. Civil society has also taken the initiative. The Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea, prepared by a distinguished group of experts under the overall guidance of the NGO, Human Rights at Sea, states that: "The protection of human rights at sea rests on the following four fundamental principles:

 

1. Human rights are universal; they apply at sea, as they do on land.

2. All persons at sea, without any distinction, are entitled to their human rights.

3. There are no maritime specific reasons for denying human rights at sea.

4. All human rights established under both treaty and customary international law must be respected at sea." There are three Annexes to the Declaration dealing with evidence of human rights abuses at sea; the applicable human rights at sea; and Guidelines for States for promoting compliance with human rights at sea."

About the human rights instruments the article mentioned above further states that "How far do general human rights instruments protect those at sea? There are of course a number of these instruments, including in particular those adopted in the United Nations, which therefore potentially have universal application, including the Convention on Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture."

The seas are also a place where the rights of people are violated. Let me share with you the pattern of human rights abuses at the seas. And I would like to quote the relevant portion from an article (Lawless Ocean: The Link Between Human Rights Abuses and Overfishing, by Ian Urbina, November 20, 2019,Yale Environment 360) "I met a Cambodian migrant, who had been shackled by the neck on a trawler catching fish destined for American shelves. Captive at sea for three years, this Cambodian was an all too common example of a wider problem known as "sea slavery" that ensnares tens of thousands of men and boys on fishing boats each year globally."

I would like to share with you that the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is going to prepare a report on the "oceans and human rights" which will be presented at the 58th session of Human Rights Council. According to the website of OHCHR "The report will contribute to understanding the state of oceans within the framework of human rights, in particular in relation to marginalized people, communities and groups.

 

It will identify effective policies, frameworks, and solutions that States, businesses, international organisations, Indigenous Peoples, coastal communities, and civil society can implement to fulfil their rights and obligations, while restoring oceans and coastal areas and preventing further degradation. The report will advance adaptive, inclusive, and evidence-based management measures to reduce the vulnerability and cumulative impacts on oceans."

 

It is expected that states must come forward with initiatives to prevent human rights abuses at the seas. We need more rules and their effective enforcement. And we also need sufficient awareness of what is happening at the seas.

 

The writer is a barrister-at-law, human rights activist and an advocate at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh