Refugees: What is Your Nationality When You are Born at Sea?

On May 25, the Aquarius, a boat belonging to the association "SOS Méditerranée", returned from its tenth rescue operation: the lives of 388 migrants were saved.

But in the late afternoon, there was some surprising news aboard the old German coast-guard vessel: the stork had visited the ship – a little boy had just been born. His name: Alex Destiné, given in honor of the captain of the Aquarius, Alex Moroz.

The birth of little Alex Destiné raises a question under international law. While his mother was giving birth, the boat was heading towards the Italian coast, en route to Cagliari, Sardinia. On land, the people rescued by the crew of the Aquarius will be helped by the Italian Red Cross. But at the time of his birth, it is not clear if the ship was sailing in international waters or had already entered Italian territorial waters.

Two international treaties relate to the case of Alex Destiné: the Convention on the reduction of statelessness and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Click here for the full article.

Source: euronews.