In 2015, the year of the peak of the migration crisis in Europe, the number of arrivals in Europe via the Mediterranean Sea amounted to 1,032,408, while the number of deaths and disappearances came 3,771. Even today, the wrecks of the of overcrowded makeshift boats make newspaper headlines. Yet the Mediterranean is not an area of lawlessness, at least de jure. This essay describes the obligations arising from regional and international legal instruments and customary law which bind European States to migrants and refugees, from the perspective of the Law of the Sea and International Human Rights Law. The failure of European States to fulfil their obligation to assist persons in distress at sea, the tragedy of humanitarian vessels stalled at sea, as well as the refoulement of boat people by European State authorities to places where they may be subjected to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment, testify to the passivity of European States and the continuous violations of their international obligations. The last part of the essay focuses on an analysis of the “landmark” judgment in the case of Hirsi Jamaa and others v. Italy, delivered by the European Court of Human Rights in 2012. It addresses the issues of extraterritoriality of jurisdiction and collective expulsions of foreigners, both of which are the subject of much controversy among legal scholars.