The struggles of the government when it comes to immigration are well known to everybody, especially with regard to irregular and illegal immigration. What still remains scarcely known is the phenomenon of the so called “foreign unaccompanied minors”. Who are they? Who and what forces thousands of minors to migrate? Does only poverty and political instability lie behind it or are there also dodgy businesses? The survey carried out by West, in serial form, aims at shedding light on the problem and finding some answers to these questions. Starting with a historical and legal history in the European context and, in the next episode, in the Italian one. To conclude with the evidences of some insiders . The phenomenon of the unaccompanied minors began to gain importance in the EU in the 90’s and, since then, this issue acquired more and more relevance. Foreign Unaccompanied at the expenses of public authorities from 2004 to 2008 Countries Years 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Austria ND ND ND ND ND Belgium - 2040 1702 1558 1878 Estonia 0 0 0 0 0 Finland 140 220 112 90 706 Francia ND ND ND ND ND Germany 919 602 612 888 1099 Greece ND ND ND ND ND Irland 611 661 537 331 344 Italy 8100 7583 6453 7548 7797 Latvia ND ND ND ND ND Lithuania ND ND ND ND ND Malta 30 31 57 60 47 Holland 1626 954 633 1182 1858 Poland ND ND ND ND 163 Portugal ND ND ND ND ND United Kingdom ND ND ND ND ND Czech Republic 79 116 140 112 100 Slovakia 17 43 46 313 164 Slovenia ND ND ND ND ND Spain 2004 3160 3064 4497 4916 Sweden 360 378 629 773 1165 Hungary ND ND 36 ND ND Source: European Migration Network According to a document circulated by the  European Migration Network - Policies on Reception, Return and Integration arrangements for, and numbers of, Unaccompanied Minors. . An EU comparative study, foreign [...]

The immigration into Italy of unaccompanied minors, as a mass phenomenon, dates back to the early 90’s. With the fall in Tirana of the last and most backward bulwark of the communist regime of the former Iron Curtain. In the wake of the hundreds of thousands adults who, crammed in old ‘shipwrecks’ attempt to leave their ill-conditioned land, also conspicuous groups of minors started to enter our country. As it is showed by the results of the first census which was carried out in December 2000 by the Committee for Foreign Minors. Out of 8.307 minors who were registered, in fact, 5.744 equal to 69% were ethnic Albanians. A real exodus that, initially mainly regarded the Region of Apulia and, then many other Italian regions. All this occurs in the framework of illegal immigration, which is mainly controlled, both at departure and arrival, by powerful and ferocious criminal clans. However, since 1998, thanks to new and stricter border controls; to the introduction of the residence permit for minors, which envisaged more stringent rules on the possibility for minors to stay on the territory after reaching the age of majority; to the Albanian-Italian joint patrol of the Otranto channel; to the slow but steady improvement [...]

Europe and the question of unaccompanied minors The decisions made by the Ministers of the Interior during the Summit of last 3 June on the foreign unaccompanied minors represent a big novelty and a real turning-point in one of the most thorny and underestimated chapters of contemporary immigration. After years of guilty indifference on behalf of the European institutions, it has been set that this issue can no longer be entrusted exclusively to the single governments in the same way as every case cannot be managed on the basis of the perceptivity of the single national administration. So far, these are the only bodies qualified to make decisions on the initiatives and the most proper instruments to advance in this field. Whoever deals with immigration issues is well aware of how the question of unaccompanied minors is relevant both in ethical and social terms. They embody a particularly vulnerable category of migrants. The majority of them are boys aged between 15 and 17, that at the end of long and very risky journeys, manage to enter illegally the countries of the Old Continent. They are labelled as ‘unaccompanied’ because they arrive without their parents or [...]

Translation not available yet