Italy hosts over 21,000 unaccompanied foreign minors: they are not numbers but people with needs, hopes and fears. To acknowledge this, the Italian ombudsperson for children and adolescents Carla Garlatti, over the last few months, has met with minors hosted in facilities that are part of the reception and integration system SAI managed by the municipal authorities in several locations across Italy.

The visits were carried out in cooperation with the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI), the central coordination structure of SAI, (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The meetings have inspired a publication - 'Listening to unaccompanied foreign minors and making them participate as a methodology of intervention' - which can be downloaded on the websites of AGIA and its partners. The publication reports the point of view of the children and teens interviewed, outlining a series of recommendations.

The appointment of a volunteer guardian remains a critical issue

"The reception and hosting system must be carried out in a structural manner and not as a response to emergencies", noted Garlatti."It is urgent to adopt a decree regulating the first interview carried out with a minor entering Italian territory: it is a passage that has been awaited since 2017 and which is fundamental to ensure the rights of minors and to help them reach their destination quickly and in a safe manner."

Garlatti went on to say that each teen must be assured three rights: the presumption that they are minors, a spot in a facility exclusively reserved for minors and the assignation of a volunteer guardian.

According to the report, speeding up administrative procedures to obtain a residence permit is indispensable, as well as making sure practices are uniformly respected across the national territory.

Minors currently have to wait up to six months to begin the integration process and this generates anxiety, fear, frustration, as well as a more general lack of understanding of bureaucratic mechanisms, the dossier revealed.

The report also highlighted how important it is for a cultural mediator to be present every step of the way to help a minor understand procedures and overcome the "fear of moving backwards". For the same reason, a volunteer guardian must be promptly appointed, the publication noted. This remains a critical aspect that has emerged from the interviews carried out. Minors have in fact reported that, due to the lack of volunteers, juvenile courts have at times appointed mayors or lawyers as legal guardians - figures that cannot offer real support in the integration process because they are responsible for a high number of minors.

Effective inclusion

The report also said that, in order to promote an effective inclusion process, it is moreover fundamental to create opportunities of socialization within the community, and to help foreign minors open a bank account, in the respect of the limits set by current legislation.

Finally, the report sets out that Italy should extend the integration process for foreign minors with a residence permit until they are 21. According to one of the local authorities consulted, the town of Prato, near Florence, Mayor Matteo Biffoni, ANCI's delegate on immigration and integration policies, the report is "published at a time when the theme of lone minors is crucial and among the issues that most concern" local authorities.

Biffoni went on to say that AGIA's report can help local authorities "guarantee and improve so that they are even more adapted in order to accompany minors in their path towards inclusion."

"This report will be particularly useful to hosting agencies to ensure that in all facilities for minors, and in all processes concerning them, youths can have their say and finally have a response that is tailor-made for their needs and aspirations", commented Nicola Dell'Arciprete, coordinator of the response in Italy of UNICEF's office for Europe and Central Asia.

Chiara Cardoletti, UNHCR representative for Italy, the Holy See and San Marino, said the report "confirms how much still needs to be done to ensure the full respect of the rights of many children and teens arriving in Italy. We are convinced that it represents the appropriate approach to reach concrete solutions that respond to the real needs of boys and girls."