Drone and Border Surveillance: Necro-Racial Effects in the Mediterranean
Author: Ozgun E. Topak
The European Union (EU) authorities use drones and other border surveillance systems to track migrant boatsÌýdepartingÌýfrom the Libyan coasts heading towards European territories. They share this data with Libyan authorities who then return migrants back to Libya. There, various armed groups subject migrants to extortion, torture, (sexual) abuse,ÌýenslavementÌýand death in confinement spaces. This paper argues that EU border drones have become an integral part of the EU's border surveillance apparatus, enabling vertical and remote surveillance at vast MediterraneanÌýborderzones. The paperÌýdemonstratesÌýthat drone and border surveillance contribute to denying human rights and subjectivity for migrants, producing necro-racial effects. Furthermore, the paper discusses the agency of targeted migrants,ÌýdemonstratingÌýhow they fight to reclaim their subjectivity and human rights and oppose fixed negative identifications imposed by Europe's digital racial borders. Empirically, it draws on a critical examination of secondary material and first-hand fieldwork interviews with black African migrants (Greater Horn of Africa) targeted by European drone and border surveillance in the Mediterranean. The paperÌýfocuses on the underexamined topic of border drone surveillance as part of an expanding border surveillance apparatus, advances the category of necro-racialÌýeffectsÌýand emphasizes the persistence of migrant agency and subjectivity.Ìý