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The Seventh Art and the Public Discourse on Maritime Migration

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International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper looks at rescue-at-sea practices and their aftermath as portrayed in a number of European films. In this World, Malta Radio, Bon Voyage, Welcome, Terraferma, 4.1 Miles and Man at Sea address maritime migration, States’ omission in complying with their international obligations, and how the latter obliges individuals to make difficult choices against the backdrop of the law of the sea. The focus of these stories is on the saviours and their conflicts of interests while migrants are allocated a secondary role and one in which they are usually portrayed as victims. Although this is in line with the humanitarian response that these films primarily seek to trigger, it deprives migrants of their rights. As victims, migrants are at the mercy of saviours and rescuing them or not is an act of compassion, and not one legally compulsory. The paper finally argues that a holistic rights-based approach to the migration challenge is needed, with equality as the key word.

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Notes

  1. See Refugee Convention, art. 1.B.

  2. See 1997 Interamerican Commission on Human Rights, Case Haitian Committee on Human Rights and Others v. USA, No. 10,675, Report No. 51/96; 2002 ECtHR judgment Hirsi Jamaa and Others v Italy, No. 27765/09.

  3. See Treaty of Functioning of the European Union and EU Charter on Fundamental Rights, arts. 77–80.

  4. OJ [2013] L 180/31. The Dublin system was first established by the Convention determining the State responsible for examining applications for asylum lodged in one of the Member States of the European Communities—Dublin Convention, OJ [1997] C 254/1, replaced by Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national, OJ [2003] L 50/1.

  5. Frontex was first established by Council Regulation (EC) No. 2007/2004 of 26 October 2004, OJ [2004] L 349/1.

  6. Regulation (EU) 2016/1624 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2016 on the European Border and Coast Guard and amending Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 863/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Regulation (EC) No. 2007/2004 and Council Decision 2005/267/EC, OJ [2016] L 251/1.

  7. See UNCLOS, art. 98(1); SOLAS, ch. V, reg. 10a and 33(1); Salvage Convention, art. 10(1).

  8. UNCLOS, art. 98(2); SOLAS, ch. V, reg. 7(1); Salvage Convention, art. 10(1).

  9. SAR, ch. 2.1.10.

  10. SAR, ch. 1.3.2 and 2.1.2. The operation may involve a non-rescue vessel, public or private, to respond to the distress call if a rescue unit is not available in the area. See SAR, ch. 2.4.1. They can go as far as requisition of a private vessel in the vicinity. See SOLAS, ch. V, reg. 33.

  11. The figure of irregular migrants and refugees arriving to Europe reached a peak in 2015 when Frontex reported about 1.55 million. That figure has sharply decreased in 2017 pointing to a total number of 204,700 people and continue to decrease in 2018 with 150,000 arrivals [17]. These figures are however in doubt as there is a risk of double-counting.

  12. Sea journeys are accordingly the cheapest one. As advertised by a migrant smuggler on his social media and reported by EUROPOL: ‘The cost of a package with travel from Turkey to Libya by air and onward sea journey from Libya to Italy costs USD 3700. For the sea journey adults cost USD 1000. Three children cost USD 500’. See [18, p. 10.]

  13. OJ [2002] L 328/1.

  14. OJ [2011] L 101/1.

  15. OJ [2014] L 150/112.

  16. See [21, pp. 8–9], suggesting that the lack of definition is due to the difficulties in tracing financial flows in third countries. This reason is however unconvincing as it leaves humanitarian smugglers unprotected.

  17. IMO, Adoption of amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended, Rs. MSC 155(78), MSC Doc. 78/26.Add.I, Annex 3 (May 20, 2004). See SOLAS, Regulation 33-1-1.

  18. IMO, Adoption of amendments to the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue 1979, as amended, Resolution MSC Doc. 78/26.add.1, Annex 5 (May 20, 2004). See SAR, Chapter 3.1.9.

  19. Several organisations are committed to reporting deaths at the border: UNITED Against Racism (http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/campaigns/refugee-campaign/fortress-europe/); The Migrant’s Files (http://www.themigrantsfiles.com/); and the Deaths at the Borders Database (http://www.borderdeaths.org/).

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  1. Nippon Foundation Chair of Maritime Labour Law and Policy, World Maritime University, Malmö, Sweden

    Laura Carballo Piñeiro

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Correspondence to Laura Carballo Piñeiro.

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Carballo Piñeiro, L. The Seventh Art and the Public Discourse on Maritime Migration. Int J Semiot Law 34, 33–48 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-019-09607-6

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