Alone on the boats

Unaccompanied minor immigrants arriving on the Italian shores

Chapter 6 – After the arrival

Italy represents, for one minor out of four, only a country of transit and not the final destination. Especially Syrian, Eritrean, Somalian and Afghan youngsters usually attempt to continue the journey to join family members and other compatriots in different European countries. The most popular countries of destination are Germany and the Netherlands, known to be more open to immigrants. The interviewed minors appear to be well informed about the news on changes in policies or attitudes towards migrants in the European countries.

A relocation programme was introduced by the European Union 20 months ago, in order to alleviate the burden on Italy and Greece by redistributing the migrants more evenly among EU member states. The programme required the transfer of around 40 thousand migrants. However, until September 2017, only 5.001 international protection seekers have been relocated from Italy, only the 14% of the expected number. Furthermore, among those, there were no minors, even though their well-being should represent a priority for governments. The reasons behind the failure of the programme so far are mainly the slowness of the bureaucratic procedures between countries, the distrust of the Italian identification measures among foreign governments, and the ineffectiveness of the Italian reception system that disseminates the potential candidates for relocation all over the territory.

The failure of the relocation system is causing many minors to attempt to irregularly cross the borders alone. However, they are often caught by foreign authorities and sent back to Italy. In the second half of 2016, 8.852 minors were repatriated to Italy only from Switzerland. Among them, some unsuccessfully tried to reach Switzerland or France dozens of time.

The remaining three out of four unaccompanied minor immigrants (UMI) choose, at least temporarily, to remain in Italy. Minors are separated from adult migrants upon arrival and have to wait on the quay or under the tents. They are usually given a sandwich, a water bottle, shoes and sometimes clean clothes. Meanwhile, the medical staff conducts a preliminary screening and provides medical care to those in immediate need. Often a treatment for scabies is also administered. Finally, social workers provide the youngsters with the basic information they need, as where they are and where Italy and Europe are located, what their rights are, and what is going to happen next.  Minors are taught about the different options they have in a way that is understandable for them and are explained the purpose of the further investigations that will be conducted.

The first reception phase begins when the UMI leave the places of disembarkation and are brought to the so-called “hotspot areas”. In Italy, four hotspots are currently located in Lampedusa, Trapani, Taranto, and Pozzallo. With the exception of Pozzallo, all hotspots have a separate compound for minors. Once there, minors are subject to medical check-ups; also, their fingerprints and mugshots are taken. Afterwards, they receive a flyer with the norms concerning immigration, asylum-seeking and international protection. They are told about the possibility of voluntary assisted repatriation too. The expected permanence in the hotspots should be of 24 hours maximum. However, minors can be kept there much longer. The average time a kid spends in the Taranto structure is two or three days, while for Trapani and Pozzallo the period increases to an average of 7 to 15 days. Many UMI reported being in the hotspots centres for more than a month.

After leaving the hotspot centres, the UMI are brought to one of the first reception structures, which can be existing governmental centres for accommodation of asylum seekers (CARA), collective accommodation centres (CDA), or temporary reception centres (CAS) when other places are not available. The 75.9% of UMI known to be present in Italy are staying in one of the official centres. Another 16.6% of minors are kept in unofficial structures, while the rest is hosted by private citizens or their location is unknown. Minors are to be kept in these structures for the shortest time possible and anyway for no more than 60 days. Nevertheless, there are numerous cases of kids remaining in the centres up to six or eight months. Furthermore, even though the law requires the minors to be hosted separately from adult migrants, this is far to be always the case. The legal assistance is also lacking, preventing the minors from understanding the options they have and causing some of them to attempt to leave Italy illegally.

Meanwhile, the procedures for the assignment of a tutor should be carried out. The Italian law requires a tutor to be assigned to each minor in a timely manner. In fact, it is not possible for the UMI to begin any administrative or legal process, including seeking asylum or relocation, without a tutor being nominated. However, statistics tell another story: on average, kids have to wait three months to being assigned a tutor, with peaks of six months delays. Furthermore, the tutor should be a person specifically trained to fulfil the needs of the minor and responsible for his or her well-being as well as all bureaucratic issues. Nevertheless, it is often very hard to find suitable candidates and the major or a council member of the municipality of arrival become the appointed tutors. The result is that a single person is often responsible for dozens or even hundreds of kids, obviously lacking the time to take care of all of them. A few positive initiatives in this sense ought to be recognized. For example, the city of Palermo and the region of Apulia have introduced educational classes for volunteers to become tutors of the youngest migrants.

The second reception phase involves the minors to be brought to one of the SPRAR (System for the Protection of Asylum Seekers and Refugees) centres. These are smaller-scale decentralised projects, where minors who have already completed their asylum application can wait for it to be confirmed. The SPRAR has 1.584 reception structures all over the territory, for a total of 2.007 places for UMI, an insufficient number to meet the demand. Those who are not admitted to the SPRAR centres are sent to second level reception structures, managed by associations and cooperatives.

Finally, the minors enter the long-term care process. Foster care should be the preferred long-term solutions for the UMI, as it guarantees better opportunities of growth and development. In fact, it is paramount for the kids and adolescents to build strong relationships and live in a familiar environment, in order to overcome the difficulties of integrating into a foreign country. Nevertheless, foster care is seldom the chosen alternative. On the other hand, the majority of minors are placed in communities or in autonomous households, shared with other young migrants. Furthermore, the UMI are also supposed to attend school, in particular, to learn Italian, a fundamental instrument to begin their new lives. The social services help the minors in the course of their educational process. Especially for older UMI, the strictly academic education is often alternated with professional training. In fact, those youngsters aim to find a job and reach the financial autonomy as quick as possible, in order to be able to help their families back at home.