The publication of Lisa-Marie Komp’s book Border Deaths at Sea under the Right to Life in the European Convention on Human Rights in the Routledge Studies in Human Rights Series will be marked with a book launch on Thursday, 25 May 2023, 18:00 -19:30.

During the seminar the book will be introduced and discussed by:

• Tineke Strik (Member of the European Parliament, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs)
• John Morijn (Member of the Dutch Advisory Council on Migration, Professor of Law and Politics in International Relations at the University of Groningen)
• Nora Markard (Professor of Public International Law and International Human Rights Protection at the University of Münster, co-founder of the strategic litigation NGO Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte)
• Sam McIntosh (Lecturer and Researcher in Law, author of the book Protecting Life by Investigating Death: Human Rights Obligations on European States to Investigate the Deaths of Migrants and Refugees)

Moderation: Thomas Spijkerboer

Venue: Agora 3, 3rd floor of the Main Building Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, Amsterdam. Reception afterwards in the Agora Foyer.

The event will be held in hybrid format. Participation is possible either in person or online! Please register until 23 May via the following link (a zoom-link will be sent to those who participate online on the day of the event)

About the book:

This book focuses on border deaths at sea. It unravels how the interplay of the law of the sea and rules on jurisdiction widen the opportunity for states to make and enforce rules outside their territory, and questions whether this is also accompanied with an obligation to respect the right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) when doing so.

By embarking upon the challenge of analysing a cross-border phenomenon in which direct encounters between state agents and the victims are few through the lens of legal obligations, the book unearths avenues for arguing that the ECHR is applicable to border deaths on the high seas and showcases the Court’s creativity in bridging the gap between the Convention and people in need of protection. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the ECHR is applicable to border deaths occurring within the territorial seas of states. It discusses the right to life, as well as the specific obligations of states in respect to border deaths at sea, and demonstrates that in many instances, EU policies fall short of the standards set under the right to life.