Unaccompanied Foreign Minor, between consolidated rights and emerging protection needs. The point of view of an Italian Metropolitan Protection Office

Abstract

The Italian Juvenile Law guarantees protection to unaccompanied foreign minors, which is a child coming from non-EU countries without parents. This phenomenon, in recent years, concerns the migratory flows of refugees, who arrive from Turkey or Libya to the coasts of Italy; the journey is often dramatic and sometimes it requires to pass through other European countries. The EU Regulation - Dublin III, which entered into force on 1 January 2014, points at the competence of the EU State in which the minors arrived at first; further transfers, except the need to be reunited with family members in other EU States, are not significant for the European law. The current system of granting refugee or other forms of international protection is based on this fundamental principle. The protection of unaccompanied foreign minors in Italy is achieved through a form of "multidisciplinary" support; the legal data is only one component. In addition, there are social and educational projects as well as protection for health; the need of an effective integration is perceived. Together with the social intervention, a legal public representative, the Guardian, is appointed for unaccompanied minor. The competence belongs to the Municipality in which the minor is found or where, following a first reception, will be transferred on the basis of a regional territorial assignment, within the national system of Italian reception for refugee minors, called "SIPROIMI". The legal Guardian’s role is to guarantee children’s rights and an adequate assistance. It’s a very thorny topic in the Metropolitan Area of Bologna, which has more than a million inhabitants; all the local offices created a "Public Metropolitan Protection Office" with the aims to manage these aspects. Promoting the function of these public offices confers the role of a “third party” in the protection of the children with the assistance of social and health services.