New Technologies in International Law / Tymofeyeva, Crhák et al.

of the Union and its MS for human rights violations. Relatedly, in 2021, a joint report by Human Rights Watch and Border Forensics argues that Frontex and the EU’s use of military drones in the Mediterranean Sea is increasingly posing a ‘threat to migrants and refugees’ and that ‘Frontex’s rhetoric around saving lives remains tragically empty as long as the border agency doesn’t use the technology and information at its disposal to ensure that people are rescued promptly and can disembark at safe ports’. 904 2. Border Deaths on the Rise The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has recorded more than 3,105 missing migrants in the Mediterranean region in 2023 compared to 2,411 in 2022. This translates to an 11% increase in border deaths in 2023 and similarly, in 2022, there was an 18% increase from 2021. In particular, the number of border deaths started to pick up again after the pandemic year of 2020. In this light, the IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre posited that the decrease in recorded migrant deaths in 2020 (1,449), does not necessarily imply that the number of lives lost truly decreased, but rather it is assumed that Covid-19 has adversely impacted the availability of data on deaths during migration by sea and the ability to track specific migration routes. 905 In this regard, from 2015 to 2018, the mortality rates in the Mediterranean region have been continuously increasingly even though the number of arrivals dropped dramatically. The stark contrast seems almost paradoxical, as one might legitimately expect to see that the fewer people making such crossings would result in fewer fatalities. While 2015 is the year when the ‘European migration crisis’ was formally announced, only 4 deaths per 1,000 crossings were recorded in contrast to 20 deaths per 1,000 crossings in 2018. The figures represent a fivefold increase in the death toll just three years after significant policy shifts aimed at tackling the crisis. Even more alarming are the deaths/missing migrants recorded in the Central Mediterranean route (between Italy, Malta and Libya), which is also the most heavily surveilled area and the deadliest migration route in the world to date. One would have legitimately expected that the fact that there is such an enhanced situational awareness in that specific sea route would have contributed to fewer deaths. On the opposite, the year of 2023 so far has seen 2,476 deaths, when compared to 1,553 for the whole of 2022 and 1,000 for the whole of 2021 which make the majority of deaths in the whole Mediterranean region. For instance, the use of surveillance technologies along the US-Mexico (land) border has revealed a twofold increase in migrant deaths and redirected crossings towards more perilous routes, particularly through the Arizona desert. 906 Similarly, it is anticipated that Europe would likely witness a similar rise in ‘watery graves’, 907 because of its increasing use of surveillance technology aimed at facilitating the interception and push-backs 904 Human Rights Watch, ‘EU: Frontex Complicit in Abuse in Libya’ ( Human Rights Watch , 12 December 2022) . 905 Ibid. 906 Molnar E, ‘Territorial and Digital Borders and Migrant Vulnerability under a Pandemic Crisis’ in Anna Triandafyllidou (ed.), Migration and Pandemics (IMISCOE Research Series, 2021), pp. 48-50. 907 ‘Border Violence Monitoring Network’ ( BVMN ) .

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