The EU’s maritime techno-borderscape: a socio-legal analysis of digital infrastructures and the structural (dis)protection along the migrant journey

Abstract

This thesis explores the digitalisation of the European Union’s maritime borders and its implications for the human rights of migrants and asylum seekers. It argues that the increasing use of technological infrastructures is not merely a question of operational efficiency but reveals a deeper legal and political architecture that governs mobility at sea. Drawing from critical border studies, legal anthropology, and mobility theory, the thesis demonstrates that mobility is not a neutral or universal right, but a legally produced condition—one that is often stratified and conditional. The study shows how legal norms and digital infrastructures co-produce what it defines as an architecture of (dis)protection: a regime where protection exists, but access to it is increasingly filtered through data, risk, and legal ambiguity. This thesis calls for a reimagining of border governance. It recognises the EU’s institutional capacity to lead with values, and proposes that the same technological and legal resources currently used for deterrence can be redirected towards strengthening safe pathways, timely protection, and legal clarity. Ultimately, the thesis offers a new lens to approach migration governance—one that places the dignity of the human being at its centre, and urges for a shift from surveillance to solidarity. Keywords: EU maritime border, (im)mobility, digital border control, human rights, asylum seekers, techno-borderscapes, structural (dis)protection