Sea arrivals in the context of refugee law and European Union practice

The protection of asylum seekers arriving by sea is a subject of many rules of International Law, particularly International Refugee Law and International Law of the Sea. In our study, firstly, International Refugee Law is mentioned with its general principles. Then, the search and rescue obligation of both the coastal state and the flag state towards asylum seekers arriving by sea and the issue of disembarkation, the rules to be applied in the event of encounters with these persons in the jurisdictional areas of the state at sea, and finally, the granting of refugee status were emphasised. The regulations and practices of the Member States of the European Union and the Union in general on asylum seekers arriving by sea were evaluated within the framework of general migration and asylum policies. The shift of the burden-sharing focus of the general asylum policy of the European Union to third states and the problems encountered in the joint practices of Frontex and the Mediterranean states were emphasised. The pushbacks they carried out and the sustainability of these policies were evaluated by making use of the ECtHR judgments.