Saving the lives of migrants at sea and protecting their human rights
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 26 June 2025 (25th sitting) (see Doc. 16195, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and
Displaced Persons, rapporteur: Mr Paulo Pisco). Text adopted by the Assembly on
26 June 2025 (25th sitting).See also Recommendation 2298 (2025).
1. Every day people flee their home
countries to escape war, violence, political oppression or the effects
of climate change in order to seek safety and a better life. Among
them, there are people who try to reach Europe, often by sea, risking
their lives on dangerous journeys, as has been recorded since 2014
by the International Organization for Migration, but witnessed for
much longer.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly is appalled by the numerous and
recurring tragedies of the loss of migrants’ lives in European waters.
3. The Assembly recalls the European Convention on Human Rights
(ETS No. 5, “the Convention”) and its Article 2 safeguarding the
right to life. It refers, in this respect, to the 2022 landmark
judgment Safi and Others v. Greece of
the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”), which stressed
States’ obligation to carry out effective investigations into violations
of Article 2 and to take appropriate steps to safeguard the lives
of those within their jurisdiction and in the context of any activity,
whether public or not, in which the right to life may be at stake.
These obligations under Article 2 refer in this context to an operation
to rescue migrants who were drowning while trying to cross borders
at sea. The Assembly also recalls that States should effectively
protect rescued migrants from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment,
in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention, and effectively
investigate any violations of this fundamental provision. The Assembly
further recalls the importance of respecting the principle of non-refoulement, as applied by the
Court in the context of maritime search-and-rescue operations in
its 2012 judgment Hirsi Jamaa and Others
v. Italy.
4. The Assembly urges member States to fully comply with refugee,
maritime and international humanitarian instruments, especially
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (signed in 1982, effective
in 1994), which places upon States parties an obligation to ensure
that shipmasters promptly render assistance to anyone in a situation
of distress at sea, under Article 98. It additionally underscores
the importance of the International Convention for the Safety of
Life at Sea (1974) and the International Convention on Maritime
Search and Rescue (1979) of the International Maritime Organization,
the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in
Human Beings (CETS No. 197, 2005), the Protocol against the Smuggling
of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (“Smuggling of
Migrants Protocol”, 2000) and the United Nations Convention relating
to the Status of Refugees (1951).
5. The Assembly also encourages member States to use the Council
of Europe’s expertise in the field of migration, in particular the
newly established Division on Migration and Refugees, the thematic
work on migration of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human
Rights and the European Programme for Human Rights Education for
Legal Professionals (HELP).
6. The Assembly wishes to honour the bravery of all those saving
migrants’ lives in European waters, including member States’ national
coast guard authorities and navies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
and volunteers. All these people risk their own lives to save others.
7. The Assembly underlines in this respect the important role
of the International Maritime Organization in promoting a common
and effective application of the legal framework of rescue at sea,
as underlined in
Resolution 1999 (2014) “The
‘left-to-die boat’: actions and reactions”.
8. The Assembly, echoing
Resolution 2305 (2019) “Saving
lives in the Mediterranean: the need for an urgent response”, emphasises
States’ responsibility to prevent drownings in European waters.
In this respect, the Assembly urges all member States to share responsibility
for safety and the protection of life in European waters by committing
to assist coastal member States in search-and-rescue operations,
including by increasing the resources of their coast guard authorities.
9. The Assembly recalls that Greece’s Aegean, Spain’s Canary
and Italy’s Sicily islands, and Lampedusa, have been major points
of entry for migrants trying to reach Europe, and that the Western
African Atlantic and central Mediterranean migration sea routes
are among the most dangerous in the world. The Assembly thus calls
on member States to further strengthen the financial and material
capacities of the coast guard authorities of these regions – namely
the Hellenic Coast Guard, La Sociedad de Salvamento y Seguridad
Marítima en Canarias and La Guardia Costiera Capitaneria Di Porto
Lampedusa – to enable them to pursue their missions to rescue migrants
in distress and prevent deaths at sea.
10. The Assembly calls on member States to re-establish large-scale
European search-and-rescue operations. This should involve creating
a European sea search-and-rescue corps with the sole mandate of saving
lives at sea with full respect for international human rights law.
11. To this end, the Assembly calls on Council of Europe member
States and the European Union to:
11.1 allocate
appropriate funds and means for search-and-rescue operations explicitly
earmarked for the purpose of saving lives;
11.2 establish platforms for the co-ordination of search-and-rescue
operations, ensuring an effective complementarity between public
and private search-and-rescue actors, and with clear responsibilities among
member States;
11.3 enhance the identification of distress situations and
an effective response by the closest and most suitable ships;
11.4 in co-operation with the Council of Europe, develop and
maintain systematic human rights awareness raising and training
of border guards and other security forces involved in search-and-rescue operations
for migrants, as well as increase the capacity of law-enforcement
(including border and coast guards), judicial and prosecutorial
authorities to effectively investigate violations of Articles 2
and 3 of the Convention, including in the context of search-and-rescue
operations for migrants.
12. Regarding international and domestic laws, the Assembly calls
on Council of Europe member States to:
12.1 sign and ratify, if they have not yet done so, the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other relevant international
treaties, and respect their terms and obligations;
12.2 adopt clear, binding and enforceable common rules aimed
at enhancing search-and-rescue capacities, fully consistent with
international maritime law and international human rights and refugee law
obligations, as underlined in
Resolution 1999 (2014);
12.3 recognise European waters as maritime humanitarian spaces
to allow better protection of independent civil search-and-rescue
missions, and participate in reinforcing co-operation among all search-and-rescue
actors in line with
Resolution 2356 (2020) “Rights
and obligations of NGOs assisting refugees and migrants in Europe”;
12.4 organise safe pathways at sea for migrants in distress;
12.5 take appropriate action to render effective the prohibition
of pushbacks, collective expulsions and other illegal actions vis-à-vis
migrants at sea;
12.6 monitor swiftly, independently and thoroughly all cases
of human rights violations at sea and violations of international
maritime law, and produce an annual report to this end, with particular emphasis
on:
12.6.1 allegations of pushbacks;
12.6.2 allegations of both delayed or absent responses to distress
calls from responsible authorities and instances of endangerment;
12.6.3 cases of non-rescue, delayed rescue or other issues in
operations at sea, including allegations that rescued persons have
been disembarked in unsafe places.
13. To protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of rescued
migrants, the Assembly calls on member States to:
13.1 ensure that survivors are safely
disembarked in the place that can be reached most promptly, where
their safety is no longer threatened and their basic needs are met,
in accordance with the International Convention for the Safety of
Life at Sea and other relevant search-and-rescue instruments;
13.2 ensure assistance is provided to migrants at disembarkation,
including vulnerability, health and mental health screenings, and
provision of legal information;
13.3 adopt clear, binding and enforceable common standards
for the humane and dignified reception of and assistance to survivors,
with particular attention paid to vulnerable people, especially
women and unaccompanied children.
14. The Assembly encourages the European Border and Coast Guard
Agency (Frontex) to seek an agreement with member States to also
send alerts about migrant boats to qualified civil society organisations that
act as complementary stakeholders. It welcomes the creation and
encourages the development of the institution of the Fundamental
Rights Officer within the Frontex structures, with the aim of ensuring
human rights compliance of the agency’s activities and beyond.
15. As tackling migrant smuggling must not lead to the criminalising
of smuggled people and humanitarian organisations, as happens in
some member States, the Assembly asks member States to closely consider
the recommendations made in
Resolution 2356 (2020) and
Resolution 2568 (2024) “A
shared European approach to address migrant smuggling”, including
by strictly defining in domestic legislation the elements constituting the
crime of migrant smuggling and the scope of criminalisation, in
line with the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol. The Assembly asks
member States to pay particular attention to vulnerable populations,
such as victims of torture and trafficking, migrant women and unaccompanied
migrant children.
16. In order to avoid further tragedies, the Assembly urges member
States to cease delaying disembarkation or diverting ships to distant
ports and impounding rescue ships, planes and drones; and to allow
humanitarian civil society organisations to operate in support of
public agencies without introducing legal and administrative obstacles.
17. Moreover, the Assembly urges ending such tragedies by establishing
safe legal pathways for migrants in need of international protection.
Furthermore, member States must protect and recognise European waters as
maritime humanitarian spaces to be regarded as sanctuaries in the
name of humanity.
18. Welcoming the adoption by the European Union in 2021 of its
Integrated Border Management Fund and its renewed Asylum, Migration
and Integration Fund, the Assembly encourages greater co-operation
with the Council of Europe in these areas, in particular in the
implementation of the European Union Pact on Migration and Asylum
by member States.
19. Given extensive reports describing unacceptable violations
of human rights and international maritime law by the Libyan Coast
Guard authority and the Libyan General Administration for Coastal
Security, the Assembly calls on member States to review their co-operation
with these authorities, including their funding, training and provision
of equipment, in order to ensure they fully respect their human
rights obligations.
20. Considering the challenges Tunisia faces regarding migrants’
human rights on its territory and at sea, the Assembly calls on
member States to re-evaluate their co-operation with this country,
especially its coast guard authority, in the light of these key
issues, including an examination of the support given to the Tunisian Coast
Guard, through funding, training and provision of equipment.
21. Considering the widespread protection concerns affecting migrants
and refugees in Tunisia as expressed in, among other things, the
joint communication to the Tunisian Government issued jointly by different
Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the
Assembly calls on member States to avoid instructing vessels involved
in rescue operations to disembark refugees and migrants on Tunisian
territory.
