Migrant and Refugee crisis in Europe: applying the European Convention on Human Rights in the High Sea

I am going to speak to you about the compatibility of immigration and border control policies with international law and specifically the obligations of states as they were interpreted by the Strasbourg Court.
States do not agree on the nature and extent of their responsibilities and some states have called into question the application of the principle of non-refoulement on the high-seas. European governments have adopted at times ‘deterrence practices’ (such as push back operations) of people who travel without necessary documentation and attempt to reach the European borders, in order to combat clandestine migration and human trafficking. Such practices however may hinder the right of certain people to have access to effective asylum procedure, especially in cases of mixed migration flows, where refugees need to be distinguished from economic migrants.