CONTENTS: 1. Introduction. - 2. Coordinating the rules on the status of protected migrants (especially children and refugees) with those on coastal State com- petence in internal and territorial waters. - 3. Functional powers of the coastal State of (presumed) destination relating to rescue at sea and migratory flow management in other maritime zones… - 4. …coordinating the rules of international law of the sea with international obligations regarding the rights of children, refugees and other migrants. Striking a balance between the need to fight migrant smuggling and the rights of migrants. - 5. Conclusions. 1. Introduction Migration by sea is one of the most complex issues that numerous sub- jects and actors of international law are faced with today 1 . Its complexity * Associate Professor of International Law, University of Sannio, Benevento. 1 For general studies on this topic, see: RONZITTI, Coastal State Jurisdiction over Refugees and Migrants at Sea, in Liber Amicorum Judge Shigeru Oda, The Hague, 2002, p. 1271 ff.; BASTID-BURDEAU, Migrations clandestins et droit de la mer, in La mer et son droit. Mélanges offerts à Laurent Lucchini et Jean-Pierre Quéneudec, Paris, 2003, p. 57 ff.; BARNES, The International Law of the Sea and Migration Controls, in R YAN, MITSSILEGAS (eds.), Extraterritorial Migration Control: Legal Challenges, Leiden, 2010, p. 103 ff.; COM- ENALE PINTO, Immigrazione clandestina e salvaguarda della vita umana in mare, in Rivista del diritto della navigazione, 2011, p. 585 ff.; SALAMOME, La disciplina giuridica dell’im- migrazione clandestina via mare nel diritto interno, europeo ed internazionale, Torino, 2011; TREVISANUT, Immigrazione irregolare via mare. Diritto internazionale e Diritto del- l’Unione europea, Napoli, 2012; RÍOS RODRÍGUEZ, Le traffic illicite des migrants par voie maritime, in Société Française de Droit International (sous la direction de), L’Etat dans la mondialisation, Paris, 2013, p. 371 ff.; GALLAGHER, DAVID, The International Law of Migrant Smuggling, Cambridge, 2014; SCOVAZZI, The Particular Problems of Migrants and Asylum Seekers Arriving by Sea, in WESTRA, JUSS, SCOVAZZI (eds.), Towards a Refugee Ori- ented Right of Asylum, Farnham, 2015, p. 177 ff. CHAPTER I COASTAL STATES AND THE PROTECTION OF MIGRANT CHILDREN AT SEA Roberto Virzo *