An Examination of the Principal Rights of the Refugees at Sea: Right to be Rescued and Non-Refoulement

The sea pathways are extensively considered as a way to reach a safe zone for the forced people, whose lives are threatened for many reasons. A large number of the irregular migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are drowned daily in the sea, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea. The numbers of the deaths are worrying and alarming. It requires urgent and effective actions by states to prevent this disastrous human crisis. This paper adopts a descriptive and analytical research method to qualitatively examine the international legal framework for the protection of irregular migrants, asylum seekers and refugees’ rights and focuses on two essential rights of their rescue at sea and its related right of non-refoulement. The paper concludes that the security and military ironic measures of the coastal States, particularly those of certain European States, are considered as a serious risk for the rights of the people trafficked through the sea in order to be moved from the place of danger to a safe zone. Accordingly, states must play a more responsible role in assisting and protecting the desperate irregular, asylum seekers and refugees at sea in order to guarantee their fundamental rights.