This thesis investigates the European Union’s response to the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, focusing on the strategy of externalizing border controls through agreements with Turkey and Libya. Employing a combination of qualitative textual analysis and interviews, the study examines the humanitarian and legal implications of these agreements, particularly in relation to the criminalization of NGOs’ activities on the Central Mediterranean Route. The findings reveal a dual process of criminalization, both at the European level through operational shifts and the implementation of Codes of Conduct, and at the national level through policies targeting NGOs, such as Italy’s “Codice di Condotta per le ONG” and “decreto Salvini-bis”. The examples of the SeaWatch-3 and IUVENTA boats demonstrate how these processes hinder NGOs’ operations and shape public discourse on migration. The thesis concludes by highlighting the ongoing challenges in the Mediterranean Sea and the need for further research to understand their implications fully.

Os Veículos Aéreos Não Tripulados (VANTs) são ideais para operações de risco e estressante para o ser humano são as chamadas dull, dirty and dangerous missions. Portanto, uma importante aplicação desse tipo de robô aéreo diz respeito a operações de busca envolvendo múltiplos VANTs cooperativos, em que há risco de colisões entre aeronaves e o tempo de um voo é limitado, entre outros fatores, pela capacidade de um piloto trabalhar sem descanso. Entretanto, apesar de atualmente verificar-se um crescente número de pesquisas envolvendo VANTs e do grande potencial existente na utilização de VANTs, operações de busca cooperativas ainda não estão ocorrendo. Esse assunto é uma área de estudo multidisciplinar e nascente, que possui diversas linhas de pesquisa. Diferentes algoritmos de navegação e padrões de busca foram estudados visando selecionar o(s) mais adequado(s). Além disso, apresenta-se, neste trabalho, uma visão geral sobre os mecanismos de coordenação multiagente e avalia a adequação de cada uma delas à coordenação distribuída de agentes (VANTs), visando cooperação. Assim, com o objetivo de melhorar o desempenho de uma operação de busca, esta pesquisa de mestrado propõe um modelo de VANTs cooperativos que combina mecanismos de coordenação multiagente, algoritmos de navegação e padrões de busca estabelecidos pelos principais órgãos responsáveis pelas operações de busca e salvamento. Visando avaliar a sensibilidade do percentual médio de detecção de objetos, bem como o tempo médio de busca, foi desenvolvido um simulador e milhares de simulações foram realizadas. Observou-se que, utilizando o modelo, VANTs cooperativos podem reduzir, em média, 57% do tempo de busca (comparando com uma busca de dois VANTs não cooperativos no mesmo cenário), mantendo a probabilidade média de detecção dos objetos próxima de 100% e sobrevoando apenas 30% do espaço de busca. / There are an increasing number of researches into UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) in the literature. These robots are quite suitable to dull, dirty and dangerous missions. Thus, an important application of these vehicles is the search operations involving multiple UAVs in which there is risk of collisions among aircrafts and the flight time is limited by the maximum time of pilot working hours. However, despite the huge potential use of the UAVs, cooperative search operations with this kind of flying robots are not yet occurring. This research topic is a new and multidisciplinary area of study in its beginning and there are several issues that can be studied, such as centralized versus decentralized control, path planning for cooperative flights, agent reasoning for UAV tactical planning, safety assessments, reliability in automatic target reconnaissance by cameras, agent coordination mechanisms applied to UAV cooperation and the application itself. Different path planning algorithms were studied aiming to attain the most suitable to these kinds of operations, and the conclusions are presented. In addition, official documents of Search and Rescue operations are also studied in order to know the best practices already established for this kind of operations, and, finally, an overview of the coordination multi-agent theory is presented and evaluated to achieve the UAV coordination. This work proposes a model that combines path planning algorithms, search patterns and multi-agent coordination techniques to obtain a cooperative UAV model. The great goal for cooperative UAV is to achieve such performance that the performance of the group overcomes the sum of the individual performances isolatedly. Then, aiming to analyze the average percentage of objects detection, and the average search time, a simulator was developed and thousands of simulations were run. It was observed that, using the proposed model, two cooperative UAVs can perform a search operation 57% faster than two non cooperative UAVs, keeping the average probability of objects detection approaching at 100% and flying only 30% of the search space.

Os Veículos Aéreos Não Tripulados (VANTs) são ideais para operações de risco e estressante para o ser humano são as chamadas dull, dirty and dangerous missions. Portanto, uma importante aplicação desse tipo de robô aéreo diz respeito a operações de busca envolvendo múltiplos VANTs cooperativos, em que há risco de colisões entre aeronaves e o tempo de um voo é limitado, entre outros fatores, pela capacidade de um piloto trabalhar sem descanso. Entretanto, apesar de atualmente verificar-se um crescente número de pesquisas envolvendo VANTs e do grande potencial existente na utilização de VANTs, operações de busca cooperativas ainda não estão ocorrendo. Esse assunto é uma área de estudo multidisciplinar e nascente, que possui diversas linhas de pesquisa. Diferentes algoritmos de navegação e padrões de busca foram estudados visando selecionar o(s) mais adequado(s). Além disso, apresenta-se, neste trabalho, uma visão geral sobre os mecanismos de coordenação multiagente e avalia a adequação de cada uma delas à coordenação distribuída de agentes (VANTs), visando cooperação. Assim, com o objetivo de melhorar o desempenho de uma operação de busca, esta pesquisa de mestrado propõe um modelo de VANTs cooperativos que combina mecanismos de coordenação multiagente, algoritmos de navegação e padrões de busca estabelecidos pelos principais órgãos responsáveis pelas operações de busca e salvamento. Visando avaliar a sensibilidade do percentual médio de detecção de objetos, bem como o tempo médio de busca, foi desenvolvido um simulador e milhares de simulações foram realizadas. Observou-se que, utilizando o modelo, VANTs cooperativos podem reduzir, em média, 57% do tempo de busca (comparando com uma busca de dois VANTs não cooperativos no mesmo cenário), mantendo a probabilidade média de detecção dos objetos próxima de 100% e sobrevoando apenas 30% do espaço de busca. / There are an increasing number of researches into UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) in the literature. These robots are quite suitable to dull, dirty and dangerous missions. Thus, an important application of these vehicles is the search operations involving multiple UAVs in which there is risk of collisions among aircrafts and the flight time is limited by the maximum time of pilot working hours. However, despite the huge potential use of the UAVs, cooperative search operations with this kind of flying robots are not yet occurring. This research topic is a new and multidisciplinary area of study in its beginning and there are several issues that can be studied, such as centralized versus decentralized control, path planning for cooperative flights, agent reasoning for UAV tactical planning, safety assessments, reliability in automatic target reconnaissance by cameras, agent coordination mechanisms applied to UAV cooperation and the application itself. Different path planning algorithms were studied aiming to attain the most suitable to these kinds of operations, and the conclusions are presented. In addition, official documents of Search and Rescue operations are also studied in order to know the best practices already established for this kind of operations, and, finally, an overview of the coordination multi-agent theory is presented and evaluated to achieve the UAV coordination. This work proposes a model that combines path planning algorithms, search patterns and multi-agent coordination techniques to obtain a cooperative UAV model. The great goal for cooperative UAV is to achieve such performance that the performance of the group overcomes the sum of the individual performances isolatedly. Then, aiming to analyze the average percentage of objects detection, and the average search time, a simulator was developed and thousands of simulations were run. It was observed that, using the proposed model, two cooperative UAVs can perform a search operation 57% faster than two non cooperative UAVs, keeping the average probability of objects detection approaching at 100% and flying only 30% of the search space.

In the perilous waters of the Mediterranean Sea, migrants find themselves facing limited choices when in distress. Their options are stark: either to rely on the lifesaving efforts of Non- Governmental Organisations (NGO) aid workers conducting Search and Rescue (SAR) Operations, to be intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) and subsequently detained in Libya where their human rights are gravely violated, or to face the tragic fate of perishing at sea. Unfortunately, the criminalisation of SAR Operations, spearheaded by NGO aid workers, hinders the rescue of migrants, thereby exacerbating the risks they face and leaving them vulnerable to interception by the LCG. This interception, as argued in this thesis, inevitably leads to the perpetration of Crimes Against Humanity (CAH) against these vulnerable migrants. This thesis sheds light on the issue of Italy’s increasing criminalisation and vilification of humanitarian aid workers engaged in SAR missions in the Mediterranean Sea. It critically examines the consequences of such criminalisation on the lives and rights of migrants, exploring the complex dynamics between SAR Operations, interception by the LCG, and the commission of CAH. Drawing upon a comprehensive lens of interpretation that integrates legal analysis, human rights principles, and the international legal framework, this study concludes that criminalisation of SAR operations is indeed a contributing factor towards the CAH faced by migrants in Libya. Moreover, it identifies the potential liability of Italian State Officials (ISO) at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their role in enacting legislations that effectively criminalises SAR operations.