International Blame Game – Journal

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On June 14, 2023, a fishing boat carrying more than 700 migrants, the majority of whom were Pakistanis, sank in the Ionian Sea, just off the coast of Greece. Only 104 passengers are believed to have survived. History is replete with similar examples of overloaded and unseaworthy ships carrying migrants and refugees through these European waters, many of them perishing before reaching their destination.

After each such incident, the reaction of the international community has been the same: condolences, condemnation and demand for accountability. Eventually, the outrage wanes and the victims are relegated to the footnotes of history as just another statistic.

Who is responsible for this senseless loss of life? From the smugglers who exploit the desperation of people seeking to flee their countries of origin, to the selfishness and apathy of each of the states involved in the journey of these migrants, victims have failed at every step in virtually every way. .

Many criticize the Greek state for not having rescued a boat clearly in distress in its territorial waters. International law in particular, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, and the Unification of Certain Laws Relating to Assistance and Salvage at Sea, 1910, imposes clear obligations on vessels in the vicinity to come to the aid of vessels in distress. It appears that the rescue of this boat failed not because of the oft-cited excuses of a refusal to receive help or a lack of access, but because of deliberate and systemic delays and failures in Greece’s response protocols. This is not the first time that Greece has been reprimanded for its failures under international law. The state has been taken to the European Court of Human Rights for a similar incident involving a fishing boat carrying Syrian, Palestinian and Afghan refugees. In this 2014 incident, the Greek Coast Guard, while attempting to tow the boat away from Greek waters and back into Turkish waters, caused it to capsize, resulting in the deaths of 11 people, including women and children. It is clear that Europe has little desire to help or to claim responsibility for the migrants who arrive on its shores in their attempt to escape poverty, persecution and conflict at home.

Who is to blame for this senseless loss of life at sea?

The United Nations International Organization for Migration has set out transnational guidelines for states dealing with migrants in its Global Compact for Migration (2018). More relevantly, the Global Compact affirms that the general guiding principles of State actions towards migrants should be to ensure the effective respect, protection and fulfillment of the human rights of all migrants. , regardless of their migration status, at all stages of the migration cycle. . In addition, the Global Compact emphasizes the importance of providing [the migrants] with care and assistance and strives to create favorable conditions for all migrants to enrich our societies through their human, economic and social capacities, and thus to facilitate their contributions to sustainable development at the local, national, regional and global.

Realistically, however, these are only non-binding guidelines, even for Member States. Unless the international community adopts these guidelines, or similar guidelines, into its legal system and begins processes of implementation, they would be little more than what they are now promises. and stop words.

Working backwards, however, it is unfair to shift full responsibility to states like Greece, expecting higher standards of human compassion and empathy from them than the states these people are fleeing or the enablers who take advantage of their desperation to put them in such perilous circumstances in the first place. Pakistan mourns its lost citizens, but perhaps the need of the hour is to urgently accelerate efforts to alleviate the negative structural factors that compel its people to risk their lives and physical integrity in their flight from the country. .

Perhaps, instead of hastily charging a handful of people allegedly involved in human trafficking, we should design and institutionalize meaningful mechanisms under the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act 2018, to prevent such cases in the future. Since Pakistan found itself, until very recently, on the Financial Action Task Force’s gray list for its slowness in complying with UN Security Council resolutions relating to, inter alia, the financing of terrorism , money laundering and human trafficking, the Federal Investigation Agency of Pakistan has stepped up the operations of its anti-human trafficking and smuggling branch. Given the current influx of people from Pakistan exploring migration options, there is a need to immediately strengthen the existing framework of the AIF and bring together its work through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with organizations organizations working in similar capacities, to engage in transnational efforts to suppress human smuggling and human trafficking networks.

Pakistan must redirect its energies towards strengthening the mechanisms for the enforcement of fundamental human rights enshrined in our Constitution, such as the right to security of person, dignity, education, employment and the right not to be enslaved or compelled to work. Instead of pointing fingers at others, perhaps it should strive to fulfill its own international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which focus on serious legislative and policy reform to ensure economic stability, fair employment opportunities and poverty reduction for its citizens. The fact that hundreds of Pakistanis have found the inhospitable seas more hospitable than their homeland is a damning condemnation of Pakistan’s failure to provide for its own people.

Sikander Ahmed Shah is a former legal adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan and a professor at Lums Law School.

Sana Afraz is an expert in international law.

Posted in Dawn, June 25, 2023

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