The Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea is a recent initiative of the non-governmental organization (NGO), Human Rights at Sea, and provides an opportunity to examine how an NGO-led initiative may contribute to international law-making. This article compares the Geneva Declaration to other NGO-led endeavours that resulted in the adoption of international treaties, including the Ottawa Convention, Cluster Munitions Convention, and Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty. It also assesses how NGOs may contribute to the development of informal agreements that influence state decision-making. In doing so, the discussion draws on interviews with the drafters of the Geneva Declaration to further assess the possible trajectory of the instrument in international law-making. The experience of Human Rights at Sea in developing the Geneva Declaration provides a striking example of the current potential and limits of civil society actors in international law-making.

The systematic protection of persons at sea remains flawed. This problem has become even more acute during the Covid-19 pandemic when port closures have caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis at sea. This article looks at the impact of port closures on the rights of persons at sea and considers how international law can protect those rights. While persons at sea are afforded significant rights protections in international law, the rights and duties of States often clash, with the result that persons at sea can find themselves in something of a legal vacuum. In order to address this problem, this article argues that the various rights and duties of States must be interpreted and applied in a way that fully recognises the rights of persons at sea.