1. Pirates, Boat People, and Bystanders: Contradictions at the Marine Bedrock of the International Human Rights Regime
- Author:
- Matej Jungwirth
- Publication Date:
- 05-2020
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Woodrow Wilson School Journal of Public and International Affairs
- Institution:
- Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
- Abstract:
- This paper explores the high seas as a critical space for the formulation and development of international human rights law in two inter-related areas: anti-piracy campaigns and rescue of the so-called “boat people.” While the high seas have been instrumental in promoting inter-state cooperation and coordination, I argue that they have also laid bare the limits of states’ nominal commitments to rights protection. Using historical case studies of the Vietnam crisis, Haiti arrivals to the United States, and the current marine policies of Australia, I show that states too often willfully neglect their human rights obligations. In doing so, these states might succeed in protecting their short-term interests, but undermine the foundations of international human rights regimes in the long run.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Migration, Refugees, and Maritime
- Political Geography:
- Vietnam, Australia, Australia/Pacific, North America, Southeast Asia, and United States of America