“Migrant Smuggling by Sea-Combating a Current Threat to Maritime Security through the Creation of a Cooperative Framework” by Patricia Mallia, lecturer and Head of the Department of International Law at the University of Malta.
Publisher’s summary of the book: “A number of rules of the international law governing the oceans were created at a time far removed from the challenges of the present day. The principle of the freedom of the high seas and its corollary of flag State exclusivity are archetypical examples of this. Today these rules may appear to be obstacles in the effort to combat a number of contemporary maritime threats such as migrant smuggling by sea. This study examines this multi-faceted threat to maritime security against the backdrop of the current international legal framework and State practice in order to establish whether this threat can be effectively addressed within the existing framework of the law of the sea.”
In an interview with the Malta Independent the author suggests that the new Frontex guidelines governing operations at sea are inconsistent with international law: “On the recently approved Frontex guidelines, apart from the fact that the wrong legal basis was used to get them through, the position taken in the guidelines goes beyond what is stipulated in international conventions, namely the International Maritime Organisation’s Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) and Search and Rescue (SAR) Convention.”
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MIGRANTS AT SEA 