A new project has been launched to ensure the reception and protection of unaccompanied minors in Italy, who account for almost 20 percent of the migrants who arrived by sea in the first half of the year. The project is backed by the Italian interior ministry, the Swiss Secretary of State for Migration (SEM), and the UN Refugee Agency.
A total of 6,205 unaccompanied foreign minors arrived in Italy in the first six months of 2025, 18 percent of the total number of people that arrived via the Mediterranean Sea during the year thus far. This is a growing percentage, noted the Minors Information System (SIM) of the Italian labor and social policies ministry.
As of June 30, a total of 16,497 minors were in Italy.
In the first six months of the year, some 2,572 minors left the centers on their own and disappeared without a trace, according to a September 24 UNHCR press release.
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Project includes 34 reception facilities
The Enhancing Reception and Protection Services for Unaccompanied Children in Italy has been created to ensure the reception and protection of minors. The project is backed by the Italian interior ministry, the Swiss Secretary of State for Migration (SEM), and the UN Refugee Agency. The project is part of a wider bilateral agreement between Switzerland and Italy in the migration sphere.
Swiss ambassador to Italy Roberto Balzaretti on September 24 visited the reception center for migrant minors in Como, accompanied by UNHCR representative for Italy, the Holy Sea and San Marino, Chiara Cardoletti.
The Como center is one of 34 reception facilities part of the project that, in collaboration with UNHCR was started in November 2024.
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Aims of the project
The UNHCR project, funded by a second Swiss contribution to some EU member states and developed in close collaboration with the Italian interior ministry, was created to strengthen the institutional response to unaccompanied migrant minors, supporting the Italian authorities' actions in identifying needs and developing personalized paths for inclusion and protection.
Ambassador Balzaretti stressed that "fleeing often leads to a lack of prospects alongside suffering and risks, especially for the youngest and most vulnerable. Taking into account its own interests."
"Our project," Cardoletti added, "aims to do in such a way that unaccompanied minors find from the very moment of their arrival welcoming, safe spaces that are adapted to their age, with psychosocial support and access to specialised services and educational activities."
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