Detainee Rights and State Obligations; Charting the Shoals Facing the Royal Canadian Navy

Abstract

This thesis examines the question of Canadian domestic, and international, rights and obligations owed to individuals detained by Ships of the Royal Canadian Navy in a selection of contemporary naval operations. The thesis discusses the underlying lawful authority for these operations as well as the international law affecting the maritime environment. Next the thesis reviews extra-territorial extension of a State’s jurisdiction and the rights and international and Canadian State obligations triggered when an individual is detained together with issues arising from breaches of these rights and obligations. Legal issues found in maritime operations are then analyzed in contrast to the robust legal discussion surrounding land operations involving detention of individuals and attendant human right’s concerns. The thesis concludes by re-conceptualizing naval operations in light of State border and frontier zone legal principles and concludes by setting out general principles that can be applied to these, and other, naval operations.