Unaccompanied foreign minors in Italy: A political and social analysis.

According to the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers No 535/1999, Article 1, laying down the “Regulation on the tasks of the Committee for Foreign Minors, in conformity with Articles 33(2) and 33(2-bis) of Legislative Decree No 286 of 25 July 1998”, in Italy ‘unaccompanied foreign minor’ (UAM) refers to “a minor who does not have Italian or other EU citizenship, has not applied for asylum and is, for any reason, within the territory of the State without care or representation by their parents or other adults who are legally responsible for them under existing Italian laws”. This provision was defined as the solution to a social phenomenon that became particularly significant in the country number-wise in the 1990s. Despite the attention of the Government, the actual number of UAMs within the territory of the State is difficult to define, since most of them do not fulfil residence regulations and move considerably within Italian territory. Over the past seven years, the number of UAMs has remained stable with an average of 7/8,000 per year, and a peak of 8,461 in 2013. This figure will be greatly exceeded in 2014. This paper analyses the evolution of the presence of UAMs Italy, their characteristics, their migratory projects and some aspects of the social practices and procedures regarding UAMs in Italy.