Migrant babies born at sea defying tides of turmoil
ROME — Mercy, Francesca, Newman, Diabam and Sophia were the names their mothers chose. What they had no control over was where their babies were born.
As hundreds of thousands of migrants risk their lives on the perilous sea crossing from North Africa to Europe, dozens of newborns have taken their first breath aboard rescue ships in recent years.
“There were a lot of people in the rubber boat, we were all packed together . ... The pain was awful,” said Stephanie, a Nigerian woman who gave birth to Francesca aboard an aid boat.
There are many elements of a tortuous sea crossing that can push pregnant women traveling aboard crammed vessels into labor — stress, the vibration of boat engines, even the relief of being rescued from danger.
But the chance of a woman having to give birth on the perilous voyage is ultimately a question of numbers.
Since 2014, almost 80,000 women have landed on Italian shores, not including adolescents.
The majority of them are young and many are pregnant.
“I’ve met many women who were raped,” said Marina Kojima, a Japanese midwife who spent several months aboard the a rescue ship jointly run by NGOs SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, or MSF.
“Often they have to sell their bodies in order to get a place on the boat.”
Citizenship dead-end
But even if the 35 babies born aboard Mediterranean rescue vessels in recent years defy the odds to make it safely to Europe, their ordeal is just getting started.
According to maritime law, children born at sea are considered nationals of the ship’s flag carrier: Italy for Francesca and the United Kingdom for Mercy.
But in these countries, restrictive citizenship laws mean the babies are not entitled to a European passport.
Upon arrival in Italy, their unusual birth affords them no special treatment and they often get lost among the masses.
Mercy and her mother were taken to Mineo reception center in Sicily, the largest in Europe.
It still houses nearly 3,000 people who sometimes wait years for an answer to their asylum applications.
Little Francesca, and two others, Newman and Favor, born on the in 2016, were luckier: Their parents were taken in by smaller centers, which may offer the chance to grow up to live a life less precarious than their birth.
pose with their newborn Alex during a family picture in 2016, a day after they were rescued off the Libyan coast.