(ANS - Roma)– There are more than 15,000 unaccompanied minors in Italy. Of these 5,588 have disappeared leaving no trace and receiving no protection from those responsible for their care.  The data are contained in a dossier from Caritas in Rome, entitled "The difficult challenges facing unaccompanied minors", presented on World Children's Day, 20 November.

"We are not yet able to give protection and personal guidance to all. Only one in five unaccompanied minors is in a centre belonging to the Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees" Msgr Giancarlo Perego Director of the Migrantes Foundation stated in the newspaper Avvenire. That means that there are about ten thousand unaccompanied minors who are accommodated in most cases in poor and inadequate buildings.

The biggest number of unaccompanied minors in Italy are Egyptians – 2047, of whom practically half (1,182) are untraceable. The second biggest group are the Albanians - 1,159, of whom 72 are unaccounted for. Eritreans are third with 1,130, and there are another 1,465 who cannot be traced.

Through interviews with the unaccompanied foreign minors being cared for in Rome, the dossier also sheds light on the expectations of these children and the reality they have to face. They are unaware of legal and bureaucratic obstacles. Their hope is always to find a job in a short time and pay off the large debts incurred in getting to Italy, but it is not uncommon for them to end up on the black market, often in child labour or petty crime.  Moreover, being involved in any form of work, whether or not they are being exploited, makes it difficult for them to attend school. Lack of education and inadequate knowledge of Italian add to the problems of unaccompanied minors in Italy.  

The Caritas dossier calls for the investment of resources to promote integration and to create the conditions that will be a stimulus and an opportunity for the benefit of the child migrants themselves and of the host society."

Published 03/12/2015