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Recommendation 2046 (2014) Final version
The “left-to-die boat”: actions and reactions
1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers
to its Resolution 1999
(2014) “The ‘left-to-die boat’: actions and reactions”.
2. The left-to-die boat tragedy and other recent serious incidents
that have led to the loss of hundreds of lives need to trigger a
radical change in search and rescue (SAR) policies and practices
in Europe. Serious problems have arisen due to a lack of accountability,
transparency and co-ordination. The Assembly considers that the
Council of Europe has an important role to play in assisting member
States in this respect.
3. With a view to preventing the human rights violations which
result from the vacuum of responsibility in search and rescue and
disembarkation, and to safeguarding solidarity among the member
States, the Assembly calls on the Committee of Ministers to:
3.1. instruct the Steering Committee
for Human Rights (CDDH) to carry out a feasibility study on a common
approach to fill crucial legal gaps with regard to search and rescue
in the Mediterranean Sea, namely the definition of distress, the
obligation to respond immediately to a distress call, irrespective
of the SAR zone the call comes from, the criteria according to which
member States are responsible for disembarkation, and the abolition
of factors which dissuade shipmasters and fishermen from carrying out
rescues;
3.2. on the basis of this feasibility study, hold a thematic
debate, with the participation of the Assembly, on the above-mentioned
issues, on finding safe routes for people in need of international protection
(through resettlement and other types of protected entry), as well
as on solidarity mechanisms for European Union member States to
share the responsibility for those rescued (such as relocation and joint
processing of asylum requests in or outside Europe, with due regard
to the concerns of the Assembly in respect of the establishment
of transit or processing centres, as outlined in Recommendation 1808 (2007) and Resolution 1569 (2007) “Assessment
of transit and processing centres as a response to mixed flows of
migrants and asylum seekers”), in order to exchange best practices,
offer solutions and find ways to facilitate agreements between States
facing regular disputes on the co-ordination of rescue at sea and
disembarkation;
3.3. adopt guidelines on how to comply with the Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy judgment
of the European Court of Human Rights and urge member States to
refrain from using push-back practices.