A/HRC/56/60 obligations on States to identify and protect victims of trafficking or persons at risk of trafficking arise also in the context of interceptions at sea and in the context of duties to rescue persons in distress at sea. The Special Rapporteur recalls the recommendation of the Human Rights Committee to review the policy and practices during interceptions at sea, including on-water assessments, to ensure that all persons under the State party’s jurisdiction who are in need of international protection have access to fair and efficient asylum procedures within the territory of the State, including access to legal representation where appropriate, and to legal remedies.30 The Special Rapporteur highlights the evolving functional concept of jurisdiction, and specifically the special relationship of dependency that may arise in such contexts, and its relevance in determining whether persons directly affected by decisions taken by States, in a manner that was reasonably foreseeable in light of relevant legal obligations, are subject to its jurisdiction. In situations in which jurisdiction is established, the specific obligations of prevention and of protection of victims of trafficking arise and must be implemented without discrimination. As the European Court of Human Rights has stated, “the special nature of the maritime environment cannot justify an area outside the law where individuals are covered by no legal system capable of affording them enjoyment of the rights and guarantees protected by the Convention which the States have undertaken to secure to everyone within their jurisdiction”.31 As such, international human rights law, and international law on trafficking in persons, continue to apply to those States for which jurisdiction is established. That includes the obligation of States on non-refoulement, as protected under international human rights and refugee law and customary international law, and the prohibition of collective expulsions. Without such continued protection of the law, the consequence would be that victims of trafficking, not having managed to reach the borders of a State, would not be entitled to an examination of their personal circumstances before being expelled, unlike those travelling by land. That would clearly be contrary to the object and purpose of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the international law prohibition of refoulement. IV. Search and rescue operations 21. First and foremost, for victims of trafficking at sea, the right to life must be ensured, as a fundamental and non-derogable human right set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international human rights treaties. As the Human Rights Committee stated in its general comment No. 36 (2018), the right to life is a right that should not be interpreted narrowly (para. 3). The Committee further noted that a State’s obligation to respect the right to life includes an obligation to take action in the case of foreseeable threats to the right to life and in life-threatening situations, even in situations in which those threats and situations are not caused directly by the State. 22. States have an obligation to ensure that maritime actors can fulfil their duties towards persons in distress at sea, including victims of trafficking and persons at risk of trafficking. It is essential, therefore, that maritime actors are fully supported in meeting their search and rescue obligations under international law. As required by international maritime law and the law of the sea, masters of ships are required to assist those in distress at sea. 32 Those obligations must be implemented without discrimination or regard to the status of the persons being rescued and, as such, equally apply to victims of trafficking and persons at risk of trafficking.33 Flag States are required, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to require the master of a ship flying its flag to render assistance and to proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of persons in distress (art. 98). Similarly, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea requires masters of ships at sea, who are in a position to be able to provide assistance, to assist persons in distress, specifying that: “This obligation to provide assistance applies regardless of the nationality or status of such persons or the 30 31 32 33 GE.24-06692 CCPR/C/AUS/CO/6, para. 34 (b). European Court of Human Rights, Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy, application No. 27765/09, Judgment, 23 February 2012, para. 178. A/HRC/47/30, para. 50. Ibid. 7