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are cases when states began to ignore the extraterritorial effect of the non-refoulement
principle.
The countries of the European Union are considering steps which would stop the
migrants and refugees on their intended path. That does apply to the roads on the
ground and entails cooperation with the countries through which the migrants are
passing (and the possibility of returning them there offering financial support), and
it also applies to the routes on the sea. On the agenda there appeared again also the
question of protection of external borders in connection with the search and rescue
system.
In view of the fact that refugees often set off their journey across the sea on not
exactly appropriate boats, they get easily into trouble, call for help and it is necessary
to rescue them. It should be highlighted that a big part of the operations directed at the
protection of external European borders changes into rescue operations. The European
Union responded to this fact accordingly when it stipulates in the new regulation
regarding security of the external sea borders in the context of FRONTEX coordinated
operations explicit rules of the search and rescue operations (which more or less copy
the current international law standards). It is not however possible to overlook the
growing numbers of persons that die trying to cross the sea borders of some European
country. It follows that it would be surely desirable in the name of rescuing human
lives to strengthen the existing border operations.
The current refugee crisis pointed out problems that are not new either in Europe,
or in the whole world. In view of the flow of hundreds of thousands of refugees and
migrants into the European countries and the discussed possibility that in the near
future additional millions of Middle East and African citizens will get moving, the
debate is growing stronger on the topic of securing effective control of state borders
and of the ability of the European community to integrate mass influx of refugees and
migrants from very different cultures. It is apparent that a long-lasting solution will
have to stem from the basic human rights principles, which crystallize in the principle
of
non-refoulement
, but at the same time will have to respect security and economic
interests of the affected community. These complex correlations are of course included
within current European migration and asylum law. However, the migration crisis
has brought about a question whether this system is also sustainable from the human
rights point of view.
While writing this publication, it has been again shown that the principle of
not-returning,
non-refoulement
, is not only an academic question. The topic has
become much more pressing and topical than when it first appeared. The mass
influx of persons that has grown in the year 2015 brought back the question of non-
refoulement principle and its extraterritorial effect with regard to the protection of
maritime borders, though not always in a positive context. Moreover, the states have
also discussed again the issue of what role FRONTEX should play and whether the