Saving migrants’ lives at sea: Improving search and rescue operations

Abstract

The present study focuses on the Mediterranean Sea migration crisis and investigates the effectiveness of search and rescue (SAR) operations alongside measures to reduce the number of deaths of migrants at sea. It also describes the stakeholders involved in SAR activities. The paper first analyzes secondary data and the results of 24 in-depth interviews in order to develop an analytical framework, which is then complemented by a system dynamics model to explore the complexity and interactions among stakeholders in SAR operations. The study shows that the death toll at sea can be reduced by enhancing cooperation among stakeholders by providing legal migration pathways under certain conditions and by engaging in more effective migrant detection and interception at sea. Lastly, raising potential migrants' awareness about the risk of death during the sea crossing should be seen as an additional measure, while SAR activities should be maintained to prevent loss of life at sea.

Looking back and beyond the complex dynamics of humanitarian operations

“…Uddin et al (2018) believed that their research could be used as a basis for designing future research to understand shelter dynamics and their effective contribution to disaster emergency response. Kosmas et al (2022) were the first to apply SD in SAR operations linked to migration by sea (MBS). SAR operations (e.g.…”

“…Therefore, we suggest mapping policies simulated for different cases (disaster and operation types) based on productivity and performance. Targeting the productivity and performance of humanitarian organisations, Kosmas et al (2022) suggest further research examining humanitarian organisations' resource use (e.g. in terms of area coverage and dollars per life saved) by using historical data.…”