1) The migration of foreign unaccompanied minors

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 unaccompanied minors at the expenses of public authorities within the EU space (EU 22) massively increased in number in the last years.

The European Migration Network also mentioned, presenting very different figures, another typology of minors, that of the asylum seeker. In 2008, a total of 11.292 asylum requests submitted by unaccompanied minors in 22 Member States, was recorded. The study also points out that, if compared to the previous year, there has been an increase of about 3.000 requests.

Requests of asylum on behalf of foreign unaccompanied minors submitted from 2004 to 2008
Countries	Years
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Total	Varitions% compared with 2007	Main citizenships
Austria	914	790	414	516	697	3331	35%	Afghanistan
Belgium	675	654	491	555	470	2845	-15%	Afghanistan, Guinea
Estonia	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-
Finland	140	220	112	90	706	1268	684%	Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan
France	1221	735	571	459	410	3396	-11%	Congo, Angola, Russia
Germany	636	331	186	180	763	2096	324%	Iraq
Greece	ND	ND	ND	44	296	ND	-	Pakistan, Afghanistan
Irland	128	131	131	94	98	582	4%	Nigeria
Italy	ND	ND	ND	ND	573	-	-	Afghanistan
Latvia	0	3	0	0	4	7	-	Afghanistan
Lithuania	11	9	3	5	1	29	-80%	Russia
Malta	ND	23	58	84	56	-	-	Somalia
Holland	594	515	410	433	726	2678	68%	Somalia, Iraq
Poland	230	278	282	356	376	1522	6%	Russia
Portugal	ND	ND	3	7	6	-	-	Africa occidentale
United Kingdom	2990	2965	3450	3645	4285	17335	18%	Afghanistan
Czech Republic	95	106	92	56	36	385	-36%	Turchia
Slovakia	196	101	138	157	72	664	-54%	Moldova
Slovenia	104	82	21	27	18	252	-33%	Afghanistan
Spain	ND	ND	ND	12	13	-	-	Marocco, Africa occidentale
Sweden	388	398	820	1264	1510	4380	19%	Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia
Hungary	59	41	61	66	176	403	167%	Somalia, Pakistan
Total (EU 22)	ND	ND	ND	ND	11	292	-

Source: European Migration Network

This data, concerning minors who seek for asylum and those who do not, and their geographic distribution reflect indirectly the two prevailing managing methods in the EU space: the first, typical of the countries of Northern Europe, is characterized by a model of reception within the phenomenon of refugees and asylum seekers.

The second model is offered by Mediterranean countries (Spain, Greece, Italy) and is characterized by an opposite process.

In the mid 70’s, these countries started to witness a change: originally emigration lands they turned into immigration lands. In the mid 80’s they became destination of a growing migration flow mainly coming from Maghreb, Horn of Africa, Albania, Philippines and Latin America. Consequently, Spain, Greece and Italy worked out their immigration and asylum laws, towards the end of the 80’s and the beginning of the 90’s.

These countries faced with a different subject if compared to the one typical of Northern Europe.

Besides the differences existing in the typology of minors (asylum seekers and economic migrants), the European scenario shows some common elements. The Conference on children’s independent migration, held on October 10-11 2007 in Poitiers, released a document – Migration of Unaccompanied Minors in Europe: Contexts of Origin, Migration Routes and Reception Systems – pointed out several problems among which the risk of involving minors in perverted situations; the search for a job as a main concern; the manifestation, often undervalued, of psychological discomfort; the problems related with the age determination process that affects in turn the path of the minor – reception or expulsion – (some countries, despite the presence of doubts on determining the age, tend to consider the minor as such, conversely, other countries, like the UK, refuse this approach); the lack of professionalism on behalf of the authorities in charge of the minor’s care.