Due to the new regulations, known as Salvini decree there is no longer the possibility for those granted humanitarian protection to be able to be hosted in first-level reception centers or in emergency reception facilities.
Asylum seekers and those holding stay permits for humanitarian reasons are excluded from the second-level reception system.
When unaccompanied minors turn 18, those granted humanitarian protection must leave the facilities for minors without the possibility of being inserted into an adult reception center. Most of them, when they reach the age of adulthood, lose the right to reception and are left in the streets.
In a report entitled Isola dei minori (Island of Minors), Intersos analyzes the consequences of the Salvini decree for migrant youths, with a special focus on Sicily.
“Even if they are doing well in integrating, even if they are attending school or engaged in training, these youths become foreigners who are living here in an undocumented manner, condemned to social exclusion, exploitation by the black market and the risk of involvement in illegal activities,” said Elena Rozzi, Intersos Migration Advocacy officer.
The situation is particularly bad in Sicily. Until late 2018, over 4,700 unaccompanied minors were hosted in reception facilities there – that’s 42 percent of all unaccompanied minors in Italy. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, about 2,000 of them turned 18 and thus reached the age of legal adulthood in early 2019.
The impending homelessness for migrant youths who turned 18 is the most urgent issue. But young migrants who are living in Italy without their families also face other problems. The most difficult situations are those of reception centers located in isolated places, far from essential services – especially schools – and not connected with public transport. In many reception centers no interventions are made to promote social inclusion and autonomy of minors and many of them remain in the first-level reception centers for very long periods, even until they become adults, without ever being transferred to second-level ones
Cesare Fermi, Head of the Intersos Migration Unit, states: “The drop in migrant landings has made it possible, at least in part, to overcome problems that arose in Sicily in 2016 and 2017. However, the price paid for this reduction in migrants, including minors, reaching Italy via sea has been very high.”
Download the report Islandofminors