The Italian government's crackdown on "fake minors" through its latest decree on migration has led to debate within the research center of the Chamber of Deputies, which has raised a number of issues with the measure. The concerns echo what the opposition, the children's rights ombudsman, and humanitarian associations have called out in the past.
On September 29, the Italian government approved its latest decree on migrants which involves imposing stricter measures on verifying unaccompanied minors' ages and also mandates an increase in expulsions.
Now the research center of Italy's Chamber of Deputies has begun scrutinizing the decree's provisions on migrant minors. In particular, the decree includes the possibility to hold minors aged 16 and over in both ordinary and special reception centers in a section set aside for this age group.
The experts note that the legislative decree 142/2015, known as the "reception decree", implemented in 2015, "establishes a principle on the basis of which unaccompanied minors cannot ever be held in pre-deportation centers [CPR] or in government reception centers."
Comparison with 2015 decree on the issue
The decree of 2015 also stipulated that minors should be held in facilities specifically for minors as provided for by the law, the research center pointed out.
On this issue Prefect Valerio Valenti, head of the department of civil liberties and immigration for the interior minister, said that "I am preparing to sign a circular to urge prefects to pay close attention to the areas in which minors will be held in special reception centers. They will need to stay in an entirely separate section and there should not be any mixing with adult sections."
In the analysis of the text, the research center also discussed another measure in the new decree that provides for court-ordered ascertaining of age to be carried out within 60 days.
On this, the published observations of the research center stated, there should be an assessment of the measure on the basis of its coherence with an article of decree 142 (of 2015), on the basis of which "the holding of alleged unaccompanied minors in initial reception centers must be limited to what is strictly necessary and in any case not over 30 days."
Other remarks by the research center
Another point raised by the research center as concerns Article 5 of the decree was the part stating that in the case of "consistent, multiple arrivals close to each other" there is the possibility for security authorities to proceed directly to exams to ascertain the age of an alleged minor as an exception while notifying the family court.
The center called for more in-depth study on whether the measure "disregards, as it seems from its content" other parts of current legislation.
Democratic Party (PD) member of parliament Silvia Roggiani said that the research center "dealt another blow to a government that, on the issue of migration, has shown once again its inability and lack of humanity, not protecting minors that in many cases are fleeing war and violence."
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