A/80/302
48. Human rights monitoring is effective when it includes complaint mechanisms
that allow individuals to report alleged breaches of their human rights in the context
of externalization measures and to access justice. The inclusion of complaint
mechanisms facilitates monitoring the human rights impact of the measures and
enables follow-up on breaches.98
V. Responsibility for violations of human rights of migrants in
the context of externalization
49. While externalization policies and measures may lead to or facilitate human
rights violations (see sect. III above), establishing legal responsibility for such
violations and ensuring remedies for victims are challenging owing to the core
features of externalization, namely, lack of transparency and democratic oversight,
the frequently informal character of the arrangements and the involvement of multiple
States and non-State actors (see sect. IV). In the present section, the Special
Rapporteur discusses how responsibility for violations in the context of
externalization can be established by addressing two key challenges: the
extraterritorial element of externalization and the involvement of multiple actors. 99
A.
Extraterritorial jurisdiction
50. Under international human rights law, States’ obligations to respect and ensure
human rights can extend beyond their territory. Under the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (art. 2 (1)), States undertake to respect and ensure rights to
all individuals within their territory and subject to their jurisdiction. This provision is
interpreted disjunctively to require that States protect the rights of people subject to
their jurisdiction even if they are not situated within their territory. 100
51. States exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction whenever they exercise power or
“effective control” over people or places outside their territories. 101 In J.H.A. v. Spain,
for example, the Committee against Torture concluded that Spain exercised
jurisdiction over migrants and asylum-seekers on a cargo vessel that it had rescued in
international waters and then towed to Mauritania, including throughout their initial
screening in Mauritania and the subsequent repatriation process. 102
52. Extraterritorial jurisdiction can be established on the basis of cumulative factors
showing control and influence over people and places. In M.I. et al v. Australia and
Nabhari v. Australia, the Human Rights Committee considered the issue of
extraterritorial jurisdiction in the context of the offshore detention of migrants by
Australia in a regional processing centre in Nauru (see para. 13 above). The
Committee concluded that the authors were under the jurisdiction of Australia while
in Nauru, because Australia exercised various elements of effective control over the
detention operations. In particular, Australia had arranged for the construction and
__________________
98
99
100
101
102
18/23
European Ombudsman decision in case OI/2/2024/MHZ, para. 42.
Submission by Madeline Gleeson.
Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 31 (2004), para. 10.
Ibid.
Committee against Torture, J.H.A. v. Spain (CAT/C/41/D/323/2007), para. 8.2 and Fatou Sonko
v. Spain (CAT/C/47/D/368/2008) para. 10.3. The case of Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy
(European Court of Human Rights, Application No. 27765/09, Judgment, 23 February 2012) is
another example where the respondent State exercised extraterritorial jurisdiction based on
“control over people”, in this instance a group of migrants who were subj ect to a pushback
operation on the high seas to Libya.
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