UNACCOMPANIED FOREIGN MINORS IN SICILY IN 2019INTERSOS’ VIEW

2019

CREDITSAUTHOR: Elena Rozzi WITH COLLABORATION OF: Diego Pandiscia / Roberto Roppolo / Alberto Biondo Lucilla Garufi / Federica Montisanti / Daniela Zitarosa / Giulia MenegattiPHOTOS: © UNICEF/UN062783/Gilbertson VII Photo ART DIRECTION AND LAYOUT: Tommaso Dal PozCONTACT: migrations@intersos.org

INDEX

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5

INDEX

1 Executive Summary

2 The reception of unaccompanied minors in Sicily

2.1 Failed transfers2.2 Lost in Sicily2.3 Objective: papers and work2.4 Turning 18, after the entry into force of the Security Decree: a jump in the dark?2.5 The welcoming Sicily2.6 Minors “in transit”

3 From sea rescues to the closing of the ports

3.1 Fewer landings in Italy, but at what cost?3.2 The Diciotti Case and the minors “freed” by the juvenile judiciary

2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1

The information given in this report were collected partly as part of the “Advocacy Migration Unit” project, launched by INTERSOS in May 2018, and partly thanks to the work carried out by the UNICEF-INTERSOS “Intervention to strengthen and harmonize Child Protection Standards for refugee and migrant children from Reception through Integration”, carried out between the end of 2016 and the end of 2018, and which will continue in 2019.This report relates exclusively to the INTERSOS views and positions

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As of the end of 2018, the number of unaccompanied minors ar-rived by sea to Italy had decreased by almost 40% compared to the previous year, due to the sharp fall of landings. From the “ landings emergency “ to another “emergency”: the release from the reception centers of the children that just tur-ned 18, and their fall in irregular conditions of staying of many

of these children, following the entry into force of the Decree-Law No. 113/18 (so-called “Security Decree”).This new emergency is of particular importance in Sicily, where, by the 30 of November 2018 4,758 unaccompanied minors had been received, amounting to 42% of the total non-accompanied minors in Italy. It is esti-mated that more than 2,000 of these minors will become of age at the beginning of 2019. The majority of these children when turning 18 will lose the right to reception and will be thrown out on the street. This problem heavily worsened after the entry into force of the legislative decree No. 113/18 which excluded asylum se-ekers and holders of residence permits for humanitarian reasons from the pos-sibility of being included in the second line reception system already called SPRAR and today renamed SIPROIMI. Furthermore, as a result of the decree, the practice that humanitarian protection holders could be accepted in the first reception or emergency reception centers CARA and CAS (Special Reception Centers) has failed. Therefore, at the age of 18, the unaccompanied minors un-der humanitarian protection will have to leave the facilities for minors, without having the possibility to enter a reception center for adults.Furthermore, following the repeal of humanitarian protection by the d.l. 113/18, the majority of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum will have their application rejected. These children will become irregularly staying forei-gners, even if they are going to school, or attending an internship or even have a job.The thousands of minors who, when turning 18, will lose their right to recep-

10

tion and/or residence permit, will soon be condemned to social exclusion, black market exploitation, and to the risk of being involved in illegal acti-vities. This entails serious violations of these children’s rights and a waste of resources invested for their reception and inclusion, in addition to the risk of an increase in insecurity, contradicting the same objectives stated by the decree.

EVEN IF THE TURNING THE AGE OF 18 IS AT THE MOMENT THE MOST SERIOUS EMERGENCY, SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS ARE ALSO EXPERIENCED IN THE RECEPTION SYSTEM FOR MINORS.

The most problematic situations concern the reception centers located in iso-lated places, far from essential services, especially from schools, and not con-nected by public transport. Moreover, many minors remain in the first recep-tion centers for very long periods, even up to the age of 18, without ever being transferred to second hospitality centers. Often the operators of the centers are not adequately trained, and the serious delays in payments by the Munici-palities make it very difficult for the entities providing the reception facilities to ensure the services required. Because of all these elements, interventions aimed at promoting social in-clusion and the autonomy of children accepted are not carried out in many reception centers. Often, also due to the lack of training and work opportu-nities in the Sicilian context, and to the restrictive practices of some Police Headquarters, children cannot even begin a training and work inclusion pro-gram, or obtain a residence permit, which lead to an overwhelming feeling of frustration.Many minors and youth that have just reached the age of majority then move away from the reception centers where they have lived for longer or shorter

11

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

periods, to seek better opportunities for reception and integration in the nor-thern regions or in other European countries. Another part of unaccompanied minors, on the other hand, leave immediately after landing to reach their relatives living in other European countries. Many of these children have the right to be reunited with their families, but they chose to cross the border with France and other internal European borders irregularly because the regular family reunification procedures are very long and complex.As mentioned above, the decline in landings has made it possible to overcome, at least partially, the problems coming from an emergency management of the phenomenon (reception centers overcrowded, etc.). But at what price was this reduction in the number of migrants, minors included, arriving in Italy by sea obtained?The support provided by the Italian Government to the Libyan authorities to stop the departures to Europe, the “delegation” of the coordination of SAR in-tervention by the Italian authorities to the Libyan Coast Guard, and the measu-res adopted by the Italian authorities to hinder the operation of the NGOs enga-ged in rescue activities at sea, up to the closure of the Italian ports, have led to a range of serious “side effects”.First, the percentage of people dead or missing along the route of the central Mediterranean has strongly increased: according to UNHCR estimates, in the first seven months of 2018, one every 14 people landed died in the attempt to reach Europe from Libya, while in the same period of 2017 this rate was one person every 40. Furthermore, the migrants intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard and brought back to Libya, including minors, are systematically detained in detention cen-ters under inhumane conditions (overcrowding, lack of food, water, medical care, etc.) and subjected to torture, rape, and violence. Finally, both closing the Italian ports to ships carrying people rescued at sea, and the delays in authorizing the landing of migrants, as in the Diciotti case, have led to serious violations of international law and of our own Constitution.

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THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

13

THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

In 2018, 23.370 people arrived in Italy of whom 3.534 unaccompanied minors (UASC), that is to say, minors unaccompanied by their parents or by other adul-ts responsible for them according to the laws in force in the Italian legal system.There was a 78% decrease compared to the previous year, which recor-ded the arrival by sea of 15,779 UASC, and of 86% compared to 2016, when 25,846 unaccompanied minors disembarked on the Italian coast.1

As a consequence of the decline in landings, the number of UASC hosted in Italian reception centers has also been significantly reduced: according to data from the Directorate General for Immigration and the integration policies of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, 11,339 unaccompanied foreign minors were in Italy as of the 30 November 2018, 39% less than in the same period of the previous year. 2

60% of these children have reached 17 years of age.

1 Ministry of the Interior - Public Security Department, Cruscotto statistico giornaliero (Daily statistics report) http://www.interno.gov.it/sites/default/files/cruscotto_statistico_giornaliero_31-12-2018.pdf2 All figures on UASC staying in Italy are based on: Ministry of Labor and Social Policy - Directorate General for Immigration, Monthly Report on unaccompanied foreign minors (UASC) in Italy - Figures up to 30 November 2018 http://www.lavoro.gov.it/temi-e-priorita/immigrazione/ focus-on/minori-stranieri/Documents/Report-MS-NA-mese-novembre-2018-13122018.pdf

TOTAL NUMBER OF PEOPLE LANDED, AND NUMBER OF UASC LANDED IN ITALY, YEARS 2016-2018

Source: Ministry of the Interior - Public Security Department

Total arrivals

UASC arrivals

0

50.00

100.000

150.000

200.000

2016 2017 2018

14

As we will see later, the reception of children just turned 18 is one of the most significant and pressing problems.

The main nationalities represented are Albania, Gambia, Egypt, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, and Eritrea. The large majority of these minors are males (93%). Among the girls, especially Nigerians, many are victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.A significant part of the minors who arrive in Italy and are placed in reception facilities leave these centers: as of 30 June 2018, 4,677 unaccompanied minors, mostly Eritreans, Somalis, and Afghans, were untraceable.3

2.1 FAILED TRANSFERSAs of 30 November 2018, 4,758 unaccompanied minors were received in Sicily, equal to 42% of the total UASC in Italy, while populated and rich regions such as Lombardy and Lazio together received less than 14%.4

3 Ministry of Labor and Social Policy - Directorate General for Immigration, Monitoring Report - Unaccompanied Foreigner Minors (UASC) in Italy - Figures as of 30 June 2018, p. 6 http://www.lavoro.gov.it/documenti-e-norme/studi-e-statistiche/Documents/Report.pdf4 Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Monthly Report, cited pp. 9-10.

DISTRIBUTION BY AGE OF UASC IN ITALY, AS OF 30 NOVEMBER 2018

Source: Ministry of Labor and Social Policy - Directorate General for Immigration

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

1%0-6 YEARS 7-14 YEARS 15 YEARS 16 YEARS 17 YEARS

6% 8%25%

60%

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THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

Legend:

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF UASC IN ITALY, AS OF 30 NOVEMBER 2018

(% OF TOTAL UASC)

Source: Ministry of Labor and Social Policy - Directorate General for Immigration

> 40%

5-8%

< 5%

F R I U L IV.G I U L I A

V E N E T O

T R E N T I N OA LT OA D I G E

L O M B A R D I A

P I E M O N T E

L I G U R I A

E M I L I AR O M AG N A

T O S C A N A

L A Z I O

A B R U Z Z O

M A R C H E

M O L I S E

U M B R I A

C A M PA N I A

C A L A B R I A

B A S I L I C ATA

P U G L I A

S I C I L I A

S A R D E G N A

VA L L ED ’AO S TA

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The system established by law should, in theory, allow the distribution at the national level of unaccompanied minors who land in Sicily, through placement in reception centers located in other regions, but in fact, this does not happen, except to a very limited extent.The current legislation, in fact, establishes that the UASC should be placed in a first phase in government first reception centers for minors, so-called “FAMI centers”, set up and managed by the Ministry of the Interior, for a maximum of 30 days, during which they should be subjected to identification and age verifi-cation assessment procedures and be informed of their rights.5

Subsequently, the UASC should be transferred from a national office, the Cen-tral Service, into second line reception centers for minors, managed by the Mu-nicipalities within the SPRAR system6. By law, the number of places available in the SPRAR at the national level should be commensurate with the number of UASC in Italy. In fact, however, the capacity of this system, although significant-ly increased in recent years, is still seriously insufficient: as for the 30 June 2018, 3,488 SPRAR places were dedicated to unaccompanied minors, while UASC staying in Italy were more than 13,000.7

The law establishes that, in the event that places are not available in FAMI cen-ters and in SPRAR, the reception must be ensured by the Municipality where the UASC is located, which can receive from the Prefecture a refund of 45 euros per day. Where the reception cannot be assured even by the Municipality, the minor can be accepted in first reception facilities, so-called “CAS for minor” (Extraordinary Reception Centers), activated by the Prefecture, for the time ne-cessary for the transfer to the centers above.In the Sicily Region, it is also possible to activate centers of the very early reception for unaccompanied minors, with a capacity of up to 60 places,

5 Article 19 of the Decree Law 142/15, as modified by law 47/17.6 SPRAR has been renamed SIPROIMI, after the entry into force of the so-called “Security decree”.7 Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Monitoring Report, cited p. 18.

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THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

where minors can be placed in emergency situations and for a maximum period of 90 days.8

In fact, the vast majority of children who land in Sicily are placed in reception cen-ters located in the Sicilian area and are not then transferred to other regions, be-cause of the lack of available places in the FAMI and SPRAR centers outside Sicily. Until the first half of 2017, the Municipalities and Prefectures affected by the lan-dings had to manage the reception of a very high number of unaccompanied minors. Later, with the drastic drop in arrivals, the number of accepted minors has diminished, but the problem of non-distribution at the national level remains serious9, above all, as we will see later, concerning the children just turned 18.

In theory, minors should remain in the first reception centers (FAMI centers, minor CAS, regional very early-stage centers, etc. for a very short time, maxi-mum 30 days (90 in the case of regional centers), to be then transferred to the SPRAR or in municipal second line reception centers. The reality, however, is quite different. The majority of the minors stay many months or even years in the first reception centers, as there are no places available in the SPRAR nor in the municipal second line reception facilities.

8 Decree of the Sicily Region n. 600/20149 See the intervention on the subject of the Juvenile Court of Palermo (https://www.garanteinfanzia.org/news/minori-stranieri-non-accompagnati-il-428-sicilia-il-tribunale-di-palermo-incarica-i-sindaci-di).

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FAMI FIRST RECEPTION CENTER

WITHIN 30 DAYS: TRANSFER TO A SPRAR CENTER

IN CASE NO PLACES ARE AVAILABLE: PLACED IN A RECEPTION CENTER OF THE MUNICIPALITY

IN CASE NO PLACES ARE AVAILABLE: PLACED IN A CAS FOR MINORS

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THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

The prolonged stay in first reception centers has extremely negative conse-quences on minors. Precisely because they are designed for a first reception, in fact, in the first facilities, services aimed at social inclusion and at the auto-nomy of minors, such as training and work placement paths and legal support activities are not provided.Moreover, these centers have large dimensions, which do not allow the ope-rators to follow the children in an individualized way or to create that family environment to which all the children, according to the Italian law, are entitled. The rules for the first reception centers for unaccompanied minors establish a maximum capacity of 50-60 places, in clear contrast with the general legisla-tion on facilities for children deprived of their families, which provides small communities (8-10 places). In 2018, with the drastic decline of landings, the centers have gradually emptied, but in the two previous years, many structures were operating in conditions of serious overcrowding, reaching even more than 100 minors in a single center.

Ahmadou* is an Ivorian child who landed at the port of Augusta in August 2016, at the age of 16. The INTERSOS team met him for the first time in a first reception center in the Agrigento area in January 2017. Although four months had elapsed since the child was placed in the first reception center, it was not planned to transfer him into second line reception center. Ahmadou told the team that he had not even submitted his asylum application yet, despite having repeatedly asked the operators of the center for explanations. The INTERSOS team, therefore, verified that the references of the center, due to bureaucratic delays, had not yet managed to get an appointment at the Police Headquarters in Agrigento and that, while awaiting for it, they had not yet requested the transfer to a second line reception center. In agreement with the head of the center, the INTERSOS team then proceeded to solicit the case of Ahmadou and of the other minors in the same situation, through a communication addressed to the Police Headquarters in Agrigento and, at the same time, to request a transfer of the children to a second line reception center. The police station then scheduled the appointment within a few weeks. The transfer request instead remained unanswered by the Municipality of Agrigento, because there were no places in second line reception center. The transfer of Ahmadou finally took place only in August 2017, a year after his arrival in Sicily, and a few months away from becoming an adult.

* The names of the children have been changed for privacy reasons

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2.2 LOST IN SICILYIt is particularly problematic the situation of minors hosted in structures (both first and second line reception centers) located in isolated places from urban centers and with little access to services. In these places, in fact, often the nearest CPIA (Adult Education Center) is many miles away, there are no public means of transport to reach it, nor does the reception facility have means of transport to accompany the minors. Furthermore, many middle schools do not accept the registration of just arrived unaccompanied minors.

The monitoring carried out by INTERSOS shows that the number of operators employed in the centers is often lower than the minimum standards. Moreover, in many cases, the operators do not have the qualifications required by the cur-rent legislation, nor sufficient skills and experience. In particular, many structu-res lack cultural mediators, with the consequence that the operators are not able to communicate adequately with the children.Another significant problem is the Municipalities delay in payments. The re-ception centers often receive the funds with delays of more than a year, therefo-re with serious difficulties in covering the costs related to the functioning of the

When the INTERSOS team started to carry out activities in the reception center of Santa Elisabetta, 15 km from Raffadali, in the Agrigento area, serious difficulties emerged in accessing their right to education. There is a CPIA in the small country, but it does not have resources enough to activate any courses for the minors to attain the middle school certificate. This type of courses is available only at the Raffadali CPIA, but it is difficult for the children to get because there is no public transport available. Moreover, the Santa Elisabetta middle school did not accept the inclusion of unaccompanied minors, for incompatibility reasons related to age, background, and lack of skills of the teachers of the school. After the repeated urgent request from the representatives of the center and the INTERSOS team, in addition to the enrollment of the only unaccompanied 16-year-old minor, it has been obtained that the CPIA courses could be carried out within the classrooms of the public middle school.Even more difficult was the situation of the 50 minors living in a reception center located in a remote location in the Agrigento countryside, near the small town of San Giovanni Gemini. As there was no public transport, and the center did not have any means of transport, the children did not attend school or any other activity. Most of the children after a few months ran away from the center (the average stay was six months). The structure was closed in October 2017.

21

THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

center: from the operators’ wages to the children pocket money, up to the most serious cases of operating costs as for heating the structure. These situations often create tensions within the centers and are also at the root of a strong staff turnover, with negative consequences in terms of skills acquisition. In part due to the delays in payments, but above all because of the strong de-crease in landings in 2018, many reception centers in Sicily are forced to close: about a quarter of the centers in which the INTERSOS team operated ceased its activity in 2018. Some minors have been transferred over and over again from one center to another, increasingly raising their level of stress. It should be stressed that in many cases the failure to comply with the stan-dards set by the law (concerning the number and qualification of personnel, granted services, etc.) is in no way verified and sanctioned by the competent institutions10. In fact, both Municipalities and Prefectures often do not ensure appropriate monitoring of the centers. In some cases, the Juvenile Court intervenes not ratifying the placement of some minors in a particular center and ordering their transfer to a suitable structure. Often, however, the center considered unsuitable remains open and new pla-cements of minors are arranged. In the cases directly followed by INTERSOS, there is no evidence that the Sicilian Region, responsible for granting authoriza-tion to all the child care facilities, has withdrawn the authorization.

2.3 OBJECTIVE: PAPERS AND JOBDuring the activities carried out by INTERSOS with unaccompanied minors in Sicily, a series of obstacles have come to light preventing the children from obtaining a residence permit or that delay its issue. According to current legislation, there are two main possible paths for the regularization of an unaccompanied minor: the application for international

10 Problems regarding monitoring arise especially in centers that are not part of SPRAR and FAMI.

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protection on the one hand, and the path as UASC not requiring asylum on the other. If the minor submits an application for international protection, he obtains a per-mit for asylum application, valid until the end of the procedure. Nonetheless, in some police stations filing the asylum application takes a lot of time. As a re-sult, children often remain for months without any residence permit, which makes it very difficult for them to enroll in the National Health Service11 and to begin any social inclusion programs such as attending vocational training courses or internships. It is also very stressful for children from a psychologi-cal point of view. In the case, instead, in which the minor does not make an application for international protection, the Police Headquarters must issue a residence permit for minor age.12 Two circulars issued by the Ministry of the Interior have made it clear that this permit must be issued even without a passport.13 Some Police Headquarters, however, such as the Palermo Police Headquar-ters, do not issue permits for minor age when the minor has no passport, a circumstance that affects the majority of the cases of UASCs that land in Italy. These minors, therefore, remain without a residence permit, with the consequences already seen above.

Even more significant problems are encountered concerning vocational trai-ning and job insertion. As seen above for many minors, especially in the most isolated centers, the right to education is not granted, and without a middle school certificate, they cannot attend a training course nor a traineeship. Furthermore, in Sicily training and internship opportunities are completely inadequate, and often there is a lack of communication between the agencies

11 Although the law establishes the right of unaccompanied children to enroll in the National Health Service even before receiving a residence permit, this provision is often not applied in practice.12 Article 19 of Italian Legislative Decree N 286/98; Article 10 of law 47/17.13 Circulars of the Ministry of the Interior of 24 March 2017 and of the 28 August 2017.

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THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

dealing with these activities and the operators of the reception centers for unaccompanied minors. The most serious problem, however, is represented by the lack of regular job opportunities in the Sicilian context. According to Eurostat data, in fact, in 2017 Sicily recorded a youth unemployment rate of 52.9%, compared to an Italian average of 34.7% and an average of 16.8%14 in the European Union. Many unaccompanied minors or just turned 18, end up working illegally in agri-culture, paid a few euros a day suffering from severe exploitation. Or, they de-cide to leave Sicily to reach Northern Italy or other European countries, looking for better working conditions.

2.4 TURNING 18, AFTER THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE SECURITY DECREE: A JUMP IN THE DARK? It can be estimated that at the end of November 2018 there were more than 2,800 unaccompanied seventeen-year-olds in the Sicilian territory, who the-refore would have turned 18 in the following 12 months15, and that more than 2,000 of these minors would have become adults in January 2019.16 For most of these children, at their eighteenth birthday or a short time later, every reception and support measure cease. At that age, children rarely have a contract of employment and generally still have to complete their school and training path, therefore they cannot be independent from the housing point of view. Moreover, they still need support to face the problems concerning papers,

14 Eurostat database, 2018.15 Given that, as we have seen, at 30 November 2018 the percentage of seventeen years of total UASCs present at national level was 60% and that in Sicily there were 4,758 UASCs (Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, Monitor-ing Report, cited), it can be estimated that 60% of them, equal to 2,855 minors, were 17 years old.16 When a minor declares that he/she does not know the day and month in which he/she was born, the public security authorities should indicate 31 December, according to the principle of the presumption of minor age in case of doubt. Almost always, however, in these cases, the date of birth is registered as on 1 January. For this reason, a significant percentage of unaccompanied minors in Italy become of age on the 1st of January.

26

access to services, the educational path, etc. The abrupt interruption of any re-ception and support intervention generally interrupts the process of inclusion begun. Many of these newly 18 end up living on the street or in contexts of se-rious marginalization, fully frustrating the effort being put, in terms of financial and human resources, for their inclusion. This problem, even if already present previously, was significantly worsened by the changes introduced by Decree-Law 113/18, called “Security decree”. Before the entry into force of these changes, in fact, youth seeking asylum and those who had been granted humanitarian protection had the right to be accepted in the SPRAR. The decree 113/18 has eliminated this possibility so that currently asylum seekers can be accepted only in CAS, but in many cities of Sicily, they do not have enough places, or in the CARA, like that of Mineo.17 Several unaccom-panied minors initially placed in a first reception center and then transferred to a second line reception center for minors, when they turn 18 are transferred in a CAS or a CARA, which brings them back to their initial reception situation (very large centers with no social inclusion paths, etc.). Furthermore, as a result of the decree, there is no longer the practice that hu-manitarian protection holders could be accepted in the first or emergency re-ception centers (CARA and CAS). At present when children with humanitarian protection turn 18, they cannot even access the CASs or the CARAs and are left without any accommodation. Finally, non-asylum seeker UASCs, as soon as they reach the age of majority, usually have to leave the reception center, and if they cannot get in a public shelter for people in need, they often have to sleep on the street. This problem existed already before the decree 113/18, but probably in the future it will con-cern a much higher number of 18-year-olds: following the changes introduced by the security decree, in fact, it is highly likely that it will significantly increase

17 An exception is made for the UASCs included in SPRAR when they were minors as they can stay there until the conclusion of the asylum procedure.

27

THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

the percentage of minors who do not apply for asylum and that, therefore, at the age of 18, will no longer have the right to be accepted either in CASs or SPRARs. Even in cases where the Juvenile Court entrusts the youth to social services following the so-called “Administrative continuity”, up to the age of 2118, social services generally do not have the necessary resources to ensure the reception and support to these children. While, as we have seen, the Municipality can re-ceive from the Prefecture the reimbursement of the costs of the reception of unaccompanied minors, up to 45 euros per day, this possibility is not provided for the children in “Administrative continuity”, and therefore the Local authori-ties must bear the costs of receiving these youth charged to their own budget. This is particularly problematic for those who are facing these difficulties in small municipalities where, unlike major cities such as Palermo or Catania, the-re are no low-threshold dorms and services or informal networks that can offer even first-stage solutions. An increasing number of young adults, once out of the reception centers, look for work as farm laborers in the fields for seasonal work, for the harvest of oran-ges, olives, tomatoes, grapes, etc. Some, disoriented and worried by the uncer-tainty of their future, leave the centers even before losing the right to stay there. The children then have to work in conditions of serious exploitation, without any contracts and with poor wages, living in shantytowns, without toilets and water. There are many informal settlements in Sicily (Campobello, Alcamo, Poggiorea-le, Caltabellotta, Marsala, Mazara, Vittoria, Pachino, etc.) where the laborers live in conditions of absolute deprivation of dignity.

18 Law 47/17, Article 13, c. 2.

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RECEPTION OF UASC TURNING 18, ACCORDING TO THE LEGAL STATUS AND THE KIND OF RECEPTION RECEIVED DURING THE MINOR AGE

LEGAL STATUSUASC WHO HAVE BEEN PLACED IN SPRAR: AT 18 YEARS AND 6 MONTHS

UASC WHO HAVE BEEN PLACED IN CENTERS THAT ARE NOT PART OF SPRAR: WHEN TURNING 18

NON ASYLUM-SEEKERS

No reception No reception

ASYLUM SEEKERS Can be moved to a SPRAR center for adults until the conclusion of the asylum procedure

Can be moved to a CAS for adults until the conclusion of the asylum procedure

RECOGNIZED INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION

Can be moved to a SPRAR center for adults where they can stay for 6 months

Can be moved to a SPRAR center for adults where they can stay for 6 months

RECOGNIZED HUMANITARIAN PROTECTION

No reception No reception

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTINUITY

Entrusted to social services, that in some cases ensure reception, in other cases don’t ensure reception

Entrusted to social services, that in some cases ensure reception, in other cases don’t ensure reception

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THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

Besides the issue concerning the reception, a second extremely important pro-blem that arises with the transition to the age of majority, and which has drama-tically worsened after the entry into force of the Security Decree, concerns the renewal of the residence permit. The decree, in fact, repealed the issue of the residence permit for humanita-rian reasons, which represented the most frequently recognized form of pro-tection for unaccompanied minors seeking asylum. With regard to the deci-sions adopted during the first six months of 2018, in fact, it appears that in 74% of the applications filed by unaccompanied minors the humanitarian protection was recognized. Following the repeal of this form of protection, most UASCs’ asylum applications will be rejected.19

Minors seeking asylum who will get a rejection after turned 18, will remain wi-thout a residence permit and will become irregularly staying foreigners, even if they have successfully followed an integration path and are going to school or doing an internship, or even in case they have a job offer. These youth will live with the fear of being expelled at any time, will not be able to work regularly or rent a house, and will be condemned to social exclusion, exploitation and to the risk of being involved in illegal activities. The decree 113/18 also states that the residence permit for the asylum applica-tion no longer can be used for residence registration. The impossibility of re-sidence registration, therefore, to get an ID card, seriously hampers the access to services. Although the law introduced by the decree specifies that the holders of the provisional residence permit for asylum seeker have the right to access services through their domicile, in practice almost always the residence registration and ID card are required for registering in the National Health Service, and in a Job Center (required for beginning an internship), for opening a bank account (re-quired to receive the paycheck), etc. The impossibility of obtaining a residence

19 Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Monitoring Report, cited, p. 14.

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registration and ID card, therefore, makes it very hard to follow a path for work and social integration. Not only that, but it also appears that many municipalities are refusing the registration even to holders of residence permits for humanitarian reasons or otherwise different from asylum while, by law, these people have the right to the residence certificate.

Even non-asylum-seeking minors have a lot of difficulty in getting the pa-pers. According to current legislation, these minors when they turn 18 may convert their residence permit for minor age into a permit for study, work or waiting for employment, if they meet certain requirements including ha-ving a passport and having received a positive opinion from the Directorate General for Immigration of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies on their path for social inclusion in Italy. 20

Often, however, problems arise when children turn 18 and need to modify their residence permit. In fact, many children, as seen above, do not have a passport. Furthermore, in some cases, neither the local authority nor the reception center in charge of the minor send the request for an opinion to the Directorate Gene-ral for Immigration. The law of conversion of the security decree also repealed the provision that envisaged the application of the principle of silent consent, according to which if the opinion did not arrive within a month of the request to the Directorate General for Immigration, the police station had to issue the residence permit.

20 Legislative Decree 286/98, Art. 32, as amended by Law 47/17.

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THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

Rubel is a child from Bangladesh arrived in Catania in 2016. Like most children, he tells us that he suffered violence and mistreatment in Libya and realized he was safe only when he arrived in the first reception center in the province of Catania. Rubel lived for a year in this first-stage reception center and obtained a residence permit for minors. Rubel tells us, however, that since the reception center was located in an isolated area of the countryside and very far from the school, he never attended any educational institution. For 12 months nobody told him why he was not moved to a second line reception center, but despite the fact that the center offered nothing but a bed in a 10-person dormitory and poor food, Rubel tried to resist and be patient. When he turns 18, nobody requested the opinion of the Directorate General for Immigration at the Ministry of Labor for the converting his minors permit or supported Rubel with his request for a residence permit at the Police Headquarters. Rubel spent another month in the center as an adult, with an expired residence permit for minors. When the center, now semi-empty because of the decline in landings and therefore with few new children, decided to close down, the manager of the structure called a meeting with all the children and told them briefly that in a few days they would have been transferred to different reception centers Nonetheless, the manager explained to Rubel that for him there was no possibility of being transferred because he was 18 with a residence permit for minors, even expired, and therefore he could not be relocated either in a CAS or in a SPRAR structure. Rubel was completely lost, he did not know where to go, he had never been to the city and he only knew the surrounding countryside. Today Rubel lives in a dormitory in Catania and has an irregular job as a street vendor, obtained with the help of his fellow countrymen who every day take away a percentage of what he earns. As he does not have any papers, he cannot have a contract of employment or rent a house properly.

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2.5 THE WELCOMING SICILY So far, we have highlighted above all the problems and the critical issues that hinder the paths of inclusion of unaccompanied minors. It must, however, be underlined that in Sicily there are also many extremely positive reception experiences where children are well followed from an educational point of view, included in educatio-nal, vocational and training paths. They are also supported during the transition to the age of majority, thanks to the constant commitment of operators and managers of reception centers, social services, guardians and other stakeholders.

Particularly important is the role, introduced by law 47/17, of the voluntary guar-dians: private citizens, selected and trained by the Regional Ombudpersons for Children and Adolescents, available to be the guardian of one or more unaccom-panied foreign minors. The voluntary guardians, appointed by the Juvenile Court, not only have the legal representation of the minor in all the procedures that con-cern him (e.g. issue of residence permit, asylum application, etc.), but are thought of as an expression of “social parenting” and active citizenship: some adult figures of reference attentive to the relationship with the child, who must promote his/her best interests, making sure that he/she receives all the necessary information, that

The second line reception centers for foreign unaccompanied minors “Maria Immacolata” and “Maimuna” in Naro in the province of Agrigento, and the “Gabbiani” and “Mosè” communities of Castelbuono in the province of Palermo, are particularly interesting examples in terms of supporting the children turned 18. Both communities have a maximum capacity of 15 minors. To avoid children being transferred to another city once they are over the age of 18 and being forced to restart an inclusion process, they have already started in Naro or Castelbuono, the cooperatives that manage these communities have decided to offer young adults housing accommodation or to help them in the search. In Naro, the young adults have had the opportunity to move into an apartment rented by the cooperative, so as to complete, as appropriate, their school studies and/or training internship. Once the study and training courses have been completed, the cooperative operators have also offered the young adults to provide support to find a job. As regard Castelbuono, some young adults had the opportunity to remain in the village even when they were 18, because they had a job, and thanks to the cooperative that manages the reception center they were also able to find houses in the village with a low rent, in order to have the possibility of being independent even in case they had a not good-paying job.

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is listened to, that the reception measures and the social inclusion interventions activated by the operators and the competent bodies are adequate. In Sicily, seve-ral training courses for volunteer guardians have been promoted.

THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

A very interesting example is been represented in Palermo, where even before the publication of Law No 47 of the 7th of April 2017, it was experimented a way that identifies the “Volunteer Guardians” as an essential person for the protection and promotion of minors’ rights. The Municipal Administration, with the city’s Guarantor of the Childhood and Adolescence, has set up an agreement for the taking in charge of the minors with the Civil Court of Palermo, the Tutelary Judge, the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Juvenile Court of Palermo, the Palermo Police Headquarters, the University of Palermo, the Provincial Health Authority of Palermo and the Regional School Office for Sicily. According to this agreement the volunteer guardians has been identified as figures aimed at guaranteeing an effective protection, who should not only grant boys and the girls the Legal Protection, but also guide them in the implementation of their “personalized educational projects” that aims at providing them with a voice, and accompanying them in their growth taking care of their superior interest. To the 55 already existing guardians other 18 were added who took part in the course organized by the Regional Authority (as required by the Zampa Law) for a total of 73 volounteer guardian in July 2018.

Ibrahim is a lucky guy, at least so he defines himself. Ibrahim, like many other kids of his age, arrived in Italy in March 2016. He is a slim boy, with the strong trauma of the death of his uncle in Libya, killed before his eyes by one of the many militias that are raging in the country. After arriving at Lampedusa, he remained for 25 days in the Contrada Imbriacola hotspot and then moved to a community in the province of Palermo. Ibrahim shows immediately interested and curious, eager to learn, but the community is not able to support him. The boy relies on a lawyer known through the Internet and thanks to his interest is moved to a secondary hosting community for minors in the city of Palermo.With the support of the new community’s educators, Ibrahim goes to school and achieves the middle school certificate. Then, he obtains a grant-assisted job in one of the many restaurants in the town.In September 2018, Ibrahim got his residence permit for humanitarian reasons. Despite the center manager request, however, he does not have the opportunity to go to a SPRAR facility, as there are no places available. At the end of October, aged 18, Ibrahim must leave the community, and, because of the new rules introduced by the Security Decree, he can no longer go to a SPRAR structure or a CAS. Unlike many other peers, who are on the street, Ibrahim was “lucky” because the educators of the community did not abandon him and above all because his guardian hosted him for the first period. The boy held on despite the difficulties and was appreciated by the owner of the restaurant who hired him. As soon as Ibrahim had the first three months of salary, his guardian helped him find a home, and today the boy lives with a friend, in a small warm house. Today Ibrahim is also part of an association of migrants that aims to introduce young people to African culture, with meetings in middle and high schools in Palermo and its province.

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2.6 MINORS “ON THE MOVE”As of 30 June 2018, in Italy 4,677 unaccompanied minors were untraceable, as they had moved away from the reception facilities where they had been hosted21. Many of these minors leave the reception centers in Sicily after a few months to look elsewhere for better reception and integration than those found on the island where they landed. As we have seen, in fact, many young people stay for

21 Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, Monitoring Reports, cit., p. 6.

For a few years already, the Association “LIBERA: Associations, Names and Numbers against the Mafia” of Marsala, in collaboration with other local associations including “Amici del 3° Mondo” and “Archè ONLUS”, has been promoting opportunities for discussion and meeting especially in the suburbs of the city, in order to develop and consolidate the sense of community and belonging where it is possible to experience solidarity. It is with this context that the action to support and increase the institutional and territorial coordination for the municipality of Marsala was implemented with the aforementioned territorial network and Marsala’s social policies department. This action arises from a precise request of the territory and in particular from the operators who participated in the UNICEF /INTERSOS training, for implementing virtuous paths to facilitate the reception of the UASCs. Sharing of best practices to support the work of the communities between the institutions (primarily the municipalities’ social services) and the associations of the territory in the effort of creating strong territorial networks. Becoming a point of reference for the communities, being present in the territory to facilitate the dialogue with the institutions and to support the social workers during their legal and educational training. Co-designing according to the territory’s specific needs and implementing activities/events that can involve the local youths and the UASCs living in the community to create moments of integration and contribute to social inclusion. Among the different initiatives implemented by Intersos in the Municipality of Marsala, there is the starting of music courses at the Community Center of the Sappusi district. In May 2018 the classes for different musical instruments began. These classes were open to everyone and completely free. Also, the musical instruments were donated by private citizens, friends of the associations promoting the classes. The teachers were young citizens of Marsala who voluntarily offered their skills and time to teach the students. Within 15 days, around 70 people joined the classes, among them there were neighborhood residents, juvenile offenders, asylum seekers, unaccompanied foreign minors, students, boys and girls, adults and elderly. On the occasion of the Migrants and Asylum seekers day in Marsala, the group, comprising about 40 people, held a concert, playing some songs they had learned, and receiving a very warm welcome. The Free People’s Orchestra continues to meet and play music at the Sappusi Community Center 3-4 times a week. They keep learning more and more to be able to convey through the music messages of peace and solidarity.

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long periods in reception centers where they feel “parked”, unable even to start a path of inclusion: they do not go to school, do not get a residence permit, do not see any chance of getting a job.

Other minors leave immediately after landing or shortly after. Many of these children, especially Eritreans and Somalis, try to reach Germany, England, Swe-den or any other European State where they have relatives or where there are communities of fellow nationals who, they hope, can ensure them better in-clusion prospects than Italy. These boys and girls try to cross the borders of France, Switzerland or Austria, alone or relying on traffickers, sometimes risking their own lives. In recent years, several minors have been killed, crushed by a truck or a train, while others have been found semi-frozen on mountain routes. Most of the minors “on the move” going to other States do not accept to be included in the institutional reception system, for fear of being identified and, once they reach the country where they want to live, to be sent back to Italy. In the border towns as Ventimiglia or in large transit cities such as Rome or Milan, many of these minors - boys and girls, sometimes with small children born as a result of rapes suffered in Libya - live in shelters without any access to drinking water and sanitation facilities, in conditions of extreme degradation and ex-posed to serious risks of trafficking, abuse, and exploitation22.In the “transit center” INTERSOS2423, created in Rome to offer these minor hu-manitarian assistance, information and guidance, between 2017 and 2018 were welcomed more than 700 UASC and girls with small children, most of them coming from Sicily or from other regions of Southern Italy and heading towards the North. In recent years, however, the irregular crossing of internal borders

22 About the situation of UASC at the borders of France, Switzerland and Austria, see: Intersos, Unaccom-panied And Separated Children along Italy’s northern borders, 2017 (https://www.intersos.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/UASC-along-Italys-northern-borders.compressed.pdf ); Oxfam, Diaconia Valdese, ASGI, Se questa è Europa: La situazione dei migranti al confine italo francese di Ventimiglia, (https://www.oxfamitalia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Se-questa-%C3%A8-Europa_BP_15giugno2018.pdf) Antenne Migranti, ASGI, Fondazione Alexander Langer, Lungo la rotta del Brennero, 2017 (https://www.asgi.it/wp-content/uplo-ads/2017/09/2017_Report_Monitoraggio_Bolzano_Brennero_25_09.pdf).23 https://www.intersos.org/intersos24/

THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

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within the European Union has become increasingly difficult. Between January and August 2017, 10,462 unaccompanied foreign minors were illegally pushed back to Italy at the border of Ventimiglia, and many UASC refusals of entry were also monitored at the borders of Bardonecchia, Chiasso, and Brennero. Some of the people stopped in Ventimiglia, including unaccompanied minors, were transferred to the hotspot in Taranto or to Crotone, from where they left again to try to cross the northern borders.24 It should be emphasized that a significant part of the UASC attempting to irregularly cross internal borders have the right to be reunited with their relatives (parents, siblings, uncles or grandparents) residing in other Member States, in accordance with the Dublin III Regulation. Many of these minors, however, do not receive adequate information on family reunification procedures, also because the operators of the reception facilities, social services, and police stations often do not have the necessary skills. But even when they are informed, boys and girls generally choose to leave au-tonomously. The main reason for this choice lies in the fact that the reunifi-cation procedure is extremely long. In the first place, in fact, the minor must present the application for international protection in Italy asking for reunifi-cation toes the relative, a procedure that, as we have seen, in some police sta-tions takes several months. Then the Dublin Unit, the Office of the Ministry of the Interior that manages the procedures established by the Dublin Regulation, must contact the authorities of the relative’s State of residence to verify that all the conditions are met (assessment of the family bond, verification of the regu-larity of the stay of the relative, etc.). Where those verifications are successful, the Italian authorities have six months to organize the transfer. Faced with the

24 See: report published by Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté on the visit to the border of Mentone, 2018 (http://www.cglpl.fr/2018/rapport-de-la-deuxieme-visite-des-services-de-la-police-aux-fron-tieres-de-menton-alpes-maritimes/). For more on push-back of UASC in Ventimiglia, see the letter sent by INTERSOS, ASGI and other Organizations to the European Commission: https://www.asgi.it/wp-content/up-loads/2018/04/Letter-on-push-back-of-unaccompanied-minors-at-Ventimiglia.pdf

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THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

prospect that the procedure may last more than a year25, most children decide to reach relatives by their own means. It should, however, be underlined how the number of minors who follow the regular reunification procedure, even if extremely low, has increased significantly in recent years: while the number of UASC’s reunification re-quests between 2014 and 2016 of UASC from Italy to other countries pur-suant to the Dublin Regulation was 2 units26, between 2017 and the first half

25 Delays happen especially at local level, at the beginning of the procedure (asylum application) and in the final stage (transfer), while the efficiency of the Dublin Unit at central level has significantly improved in recent years.26 UNHCR, Left in Limbo: UNHCR Study on the Implementation of the Dublin III Regulation, 2017,  http://www.refworld.org/docid/59d5dcb64.html , pp. 135-137.

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of 2018, 103 UASC were to be reunited, 221 are still waiting for the final-ization of the procedure, while 107 moved away during the procedure27. To provide minors with an instrument that accompanies them when mov-ing to other cities or other countries, INTERSOS has developed and dis-tributed to minors a sort of small dairy called “Young Pass”28. During the activities in the reception centers, more than 1,700 minors, supported by IN-TERSOS operators, have recorded on their Young Pass the main information concerning their situation and their path: their personal data, if they have relatives in Europe, the info about the different reception centers in which they were, the legal path, their medical interventions, the educational and training path, the skills acquired and the steps made to reach their goals. The operators who meet the child in Rome, in Ventimiglia or in other cities can thus have info about the reception center from which the minor comes, on the

27 Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Monthly Report, cited, p. 1528 https://intersos.knack.com/young-pass#home/

Kidane is a 15-year-old Eritrean boy arrived in Italy after a journey lasted more than a year. He landed in Pozzallo and was transferred to a center for unaccompanied foreign minors in Caltagirone. After less than a week, he decides to escape from the center and head for Northern Italy, together with his friend, also Eritrean and fifteen, to try to cross the border and reach his brother legally resident in Germany. Kidane arrives in Ventimiglia in mid-December and is tracked down by the INTERSOS operators, tired and cold, on the border with France. Kidane says that he arrived in Ventimiglia the night before, from Rome, that he slept at the station and took a train to France at 5 am. The French police stopped him at the station in Menton-Garavan and pushed him back to Italy after giving him a document of refusal of entry, that reported incorrectly his date of birth, that is to say, 1.1.1992, thus identifying him as an adult. The Italian border police did not verify his data and sent him back to Ventimiglia as if he were an adult, along with a report to appear in the police station.The INTERSOS team accompanies Kidane to the camp set up by the Prefecture, where, after hours of waiting and examinations by the police, he is finally allowed to enter the camp, identified as a minor. Kidane reports that he had very positive meetings at the INTERSOS24 center in Rome, where he spent a few days and where he was visited by the doctor of the medical center.   The minor tells the team how lucky he was to get to reach Italy, because he and his friend were detained in Libya with another 4,600 people, in the hands of a single trafficker, from which only 200 managed to escape. Kidane says that he does not want to give up and that, after resting, he wants to try again at all costs to cross the border with France and then reach his brother in Germany.

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THE RECEPTION OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN SICILY

child’s health situation (e.g. if he has already done the compulsory vaccines), on the path inclusion started etc. The Young Pass has also proved to be a very useful tool to strengthen awareness among children about the path followed and the steps necessary to achieve their projects and objectives.

3

FROM RESCUES AT SEA TO THE CLOSURE OF THE PORTS

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FROM RESCUES AT SEA TO THE CLOSURE OF THE PORTS

3.1 FEWER LANDINGS IN ITALY, BUT AT WHAT COST?As we have seen, in 2018 the number of people arriving in Italy by sea fell by 80% compared to 2017 and even by 87% compared to 2016. This strong reduction in landings is the result of several factors, among which the support provided by the Italian Government to the Libyan authorities to stop departures to Europe is of particular importance. In February 2017, in fact, Italian Prime Minister Gentiloni and the Libya’s President of the Government of National Accord Al Serraj signed a “Memorandum of Understanding”, which provided for the strengthening of the Libyan Coast Guard’s operational capabi-lities and the preparation of camps in Libya to keep migrants awaiting repatria-tion to their countries of origin. The Libyan Coast Guard, equipped and trained with funding and support from the Italian Government and the European Union, became the main operational player in front of the Libyan coast in 2018. Fur-thermore, Italy has committed itself to funding projects proposed by the local Libyan authorities, in exchange for their commitment to countering departures to Europe and to ensuring greater control of the border with Niger and Chad, from where most migrants come from. Following these agreements, the number of people leaving Libya to Europe has decreased, while the proportion of those who are intercepted by the Li-byan Coast Guard has increased. According to IOM, in the first eight months of 2018, the Libyan Coast Guard naval units intercepted and brought 13,273 migrants back to Libya.29 UNHCR estimates that 40% of people from the Libyan coast were intercepted and brought back by the Libyan Coast Guard between February and June 2018, while this proportion may have risen to 74% in July.30 There were several episodes in which, according to reports from NGOs involved

29 OIM, Libya’s Migrant Report – Round 21 July-August 2018, 2018, p. 24 (https://migration.iom.int/system/tdf/reports/DTM%20Libya%20Round%2021%20Migrant%20Report%20%28July-August%202018%29.pdf?file=1&-type=node&id=430930 UNHCR, Desperate Journeys - January-August 2018, 2018, p. 11 https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/down-load/65373

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in SAR operations, the Libyan Coast Guard would have used force against the crews of the humanitarian ships and shipwrecks themselves, to force them to accept to go back to Libya.

SECONDLY, THE NAVAL UNITS OF THE ITALIAN COAST GUARD AND OF THE OTHER FORCES ENGAGED IN THE SAR ACTIVITIES HAVE DRASTICALLY REDUCED THE RESCUE OPERATIONS OFF THE COAST OF LIBYA.

The NGOs sailing in that part of the sea have reported that in several cases, following the reporting of boats in distress both at the National Center for the Coordination of Rescue at Sea (MRCC) in Rome and the similar Libyan Coordi-nation Center, the Italian MRRC would have declared itself not competent to coordinate operations, giving indications to refer only to the Libyan authorities. Although since June 2018 the Libyan government has declared its own SAR area, the de-facto delegation of assistance by Italy to Libya raises several doubts about its legitimacy. The ability and effective will of the Libyan authorities to save the lives of migrants at sea, in fact, is seriously questioned by several epi-sodes in which the Libyan authorities would not respond promptly to the re-porting of vessels in dangerous situations or even cause fatal accidents. In the most dramatic case, occurred on 6 November 2017, it is estimated that more than 50 people were drowned in what was supposed to be a rescue operation. Moreover, people still alive were abandoned in the sea. Above all, ordering humanitarian ships not to intervene or to hand over the people rescued to the Libyan Coast Guard means putting the migrants in very serious danger, both in the rescue phase and because of how they will be tre-ated in Libya. A third fundamental element that has led to the decrease of landings in Italy

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FROM RESCUES AT SEA TO THE CLOSURE OF THE PORTS

was the reduction in the presence of NGOs vessel off the Libyan coast. In fact, during 2017, the vessels of 10 NGOs active in front of Libya have helped 46,601 people, under the coordination of the MRCC in Rome.31 Between the end of 2017 and 2018, almost all the NGOs ceased these operations, following the criminalization of their activities, conducted through the initiation of many criminal proceedings for abetting illegal immigration or even for trafficking in hazardous waste, with related confiscation of the ship, together with the in-creasing difficulty in obtaining the indication of a port for landing. The NGOs assistance was crucial not only in directly carrying out rescue opera-tions but also in identifying and reporting vessels in distress: according to the

31 Coast Guard, SAR Activities in the Central Mediterranean - from 1 January to 31 December 2017 2018, p. 13 http://www.guardiacostiera.gov.it/attivita/Documents/attivita-sar-immigrazione-2017/Rapporto_an-nuale_2017_ITA.pdf

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Italian Coast Guard, in 2017 more than 60% of the SAR events were launched following a sighting and more than 40% of the sightings were made by the NGOs32. Following the almost total cessation of NGOs’ activities, the precarious vessels on which migrants travel are rescued after a much longer time or sink in total invisibility.

FINALLY, THE REDUCTION OF LANDINGS IN ITALY WAS DETERMINED BY THE CLOSURE OF ITALIAN PORTS TO SHIPS CARRYING RESCUED MIGRANTS,

primarily those managed by NGOs, but also to merchant ships and even to the Italian State’s naval units. As highlighted in a letter sent to the President of the Republic, to the Govern-ment and to the General Commander of the Corps of Port Authorities by INTER-SOS and other 13 organizations33, the Italian authorities who have prevented or delayed the landing of people rescued in operations rescue schemes coordina-ted by Italy have been responsible for serious violations of international, Euro-pean and national rules. The international law of the sea, in fact, establishes the obligation for the Italian authorities to take all the necessary measures so that the rescued persons can disembark in a safe place in the shortest possible time.34

Furthermore, forcing rescued persons to stay a long time on the ship, in con-ditions of promiscuity and overcrowding, especially in the case of minors, pre-gnant women and people in need of medical treatment or traumatized, can be

32 Ivi, p. 20.33 https://www.intersos.org/lettera-aperta-al-presidente-della-repubblica-sulla-chiusura-dei-porti-italia-ni-sui-respingimenti-libia/34 SAR Convention, par. 3.1.9

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FROM RESCUES AT SEA TO THE CLOSURE OF THE PORTS

considered an inhuman and degrading treatment, forbidden by Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and is certainly contrary to the principle of the best interests of the child enshrined in Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The refusal to access the Italian ports, with the resulting impossibility of asses-sing the specific situation of the persons concerned, then entails the violation of the ban on collective expulsions provided for by Article 4 of Protocol No 4 of the ECHR, the principle of non-refoulement and the right to access to asylum procedures established by the Geneva Convention, the Community law, the Italian law and Constitution. Moreover, the detention of rescued persons on the ship, in the absence of a ju-dicial authority’s provision, involves a serious violation of the right to personal freedom ensured by the Constitution and by international legislation. Finally, it should be pointed out that the closure of ports was carried out without the adoption of formal measures, raising serious questions about the legitimacy of the measures taken to implement mere declarations made by Ministers throu-gh the media.

Therefore, the decrease in landings in Italy has occurred at the cost of extreme human rights and of the rule of law violation. In particular, it should be noted that the measures aimed at reducing landings have had as a “side effect” a sharp increase in the percentage of people dead or mis-sing along the central Mediterranean route (more than 2,000 between January and October 201835). According to UNHCR estimates, in the first seven months of 2018, one every 14 people landed died in the attempt to reach Europe from Libya, while in the same period of 2017 this rate was one person every 40. 36

Finally, the decrease in departures from Libya, also following the interception of

35 https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean36 UNHCR, cited, p. 11

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vessels by the Libyan Coast Guard, means that more people are trapped in that hell that today Libya represents for migrants. As attested by the United Nations and many other international organizations37, in fact, third-country nationals brought back to Libya, including minors (both accompanied and unaccompanied), are subject to arbitrary detention in pri-sons in inhumane conditions (overcrowding, lack of food, water, medical care, etc.) and subjected to torture, rape, and systematic violence. Furthermore, Li-bya did not even sign the 1951 Geneva Convention, nor does its domestic legal order provide for the protection of refugees. The Libyan territory cannot, therefore, in any way be considered a “safe place” under the SAR Convention, as also affirmed by UNHCR and other UN agencies, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Eu-ropean Union for Foreign Affairs and security policy, and as recognized by the Italian judiciary.38 The refoulement to Libya of persons rescued at sea is therefore a very serious violation of international, European and internal law, with reference both to the law of the sea, which imposes the obligation to transfer persons rescued to a “place of safety”, and to the rules on human rights and asylum seekers protection (non-refoulement principle, protection from inhuman and degrading treatments, prohibition of collective refoulement, etc.). In 2012 Italy was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for the collective refoulement of about 200 people to Libya (judgment Hirsi Jamaa and others v. Italy of 23 February 2012). The Court held that the Italian authori-

37 See, for example: United Nations Support Mission in Libya Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Desperate and Dangerous: Report on the human rights situation of migrants and refugees in Libya, 18 December 2018 https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/LY/LibyaMigrationReport.pdf; Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Thirteenth Report to the United Nations Security Council pursuant to UNSCR 1970 (2011), 8 May 2017 https://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/otp/otp-rep-unsc-lib-05-2017-ENG.pdf .38 By decision of April 16, 2018, the Court of Ragusa rejected the request for preventive seizure of the Open Arms boat deeming that the state of necessity is subsistent because Libya cannot be considered a “safe landing place” in consideration of the serious and documented human rights violations against migrants taking place in that State (https://www.dirittoimmigrazionecittadinanza.it/archivio-fascicoli/fascicolo-2018-n-2/47-rassegne-di-gi-urisprudenza-n-2-2018/rassegne-di-giurisprudenza-italiana-n-2-2018/72-penale).

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FROM RESCUES AT SEA TO THE CLOSURE OF THE PORTS

ties had infringed Article 3 ECHR, as the applicants had been returned to Libya despite it was known that in that State they would have been exposed to the concrete risk of suffering inhuman and degrading treatment contrary to the Convention, in violation therefore of the principle of the non-refoulement. Italy has also been condemned for violating Article 4 of Protocol N 4 because the applicants had been reported in Libya by the Italian Navy without any assess-ment of the peculiarities of each individual case. The cases where the MRCC of Rome orders a ship to hand off the rescued per-sons to the Libyan Coast Guard to be returned to Libya, or refuse to take over the coordination of a SAR operation in order to have it achieved by the Libyan authorities, represent cases of “indirect” refoulement which entail exactly the same violations for which the Italian State was already found guilty in 2012. In the eyes of world public opinion, Italy has thus assumed the image of a coun-try that closes its ports to people fleeing violence and serious deprivation of

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their rights, when in previous years, and particularly during the period of the Mare Nostrum Operation, Italy was instead internationally recognized as a pos-itive model of rescue operations at sea.

3.2 THE DICIOTTI CASE AND THE MINORS “FREED” BY THE JUVENILE JUDICIARYOn the morning of August 16th, 2018, a boat in distress carrying more than 200 people was rescued by the Italian Coast Guard vessel “Diciotti”, in the Maltese SAR area. The Diciotti vessel, on which the INTERSOS team was working, stayed in the Lampedusa roadstead waiting for the indication of a port of landing, while 13 people in particularly vulnerable conditions were transferred to the boats and carried to Lampedusa. 177 people remained on board of the Diciotti, including 29 unaccompanied minors and 12 women, mostly from Eritrea, Syria, Somalia, and Sudan. In the following days, the Minister of the Interior repeatedly threatened to re-turn the people rescued by the Diciotti to Libya, if other European States had not agreed to receive all the rescued people. Following the directions received from the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport, in the late evening of August 20, the Coast Guard vessel arrived in the port of Catania. However, the Minister of the Interior declared that he would not authorize any landing of the migrants until he had the certainty that the 177 would be transferred to other countries. Most of the people on board the Diciotti had suffered abuse and torture in Libya and were exhausted by the long journey. Many of them were suffering from sca-bies and several women had gynecological problems. The conditions on board were very uncomfortable, as the vessel was not equipped for the prolonged stay of a large number of people: migrants were forced to sleep on the ground outside and to bear high temperatures during the day, they also had only two chemical baths and they had no possibility to wash their clothes. On August 21, the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Juvenile Court of Catania,

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FROM RESCUES AT SEA TO THE CLOSURE OF THE PORTS

immediately after receiving a report from INTERSOS concerning the presence of 29 unaccompanied foreign minors aboard the Diciotti, sent a formal request to the Minister of the Interior, to the Head of Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration, to the Minister of Infrastructures and Transport and to the Prefect of Catania, underlining how a series of rights recognized to unaccompanied minors by international conventions and by the Italian law “have been circum-vented since the permanence on the vessel precludes the 29 minors on board, to benefit from the reception in the appropriate structures, and to have a guardian appointed to exercise their rights, forcing them to remain in a state of discomfort, until the international political situation is solved”, and concluding that, “as this Prosecutor’s Office has to start the appropriate civil procedure in order to pro-tect the aforementioned UASCs at the local Juvenile Court, it is urged that the minors on board the “Diciotti” ship can disembark to be placed in special facili-ties for foreign minors”. On the same day, the Italian Association of Magistrates for Minors and the Family published a harsh statement on the matter, signed by President Maria Francesca Pricoco. 39

On the evening of August 22, the Minister of the Interior finally authorized the disembarkation of the 29 unaccompanied minors, confirming, however, the prohibition of landing for all the other people on board the Diciotti. As highlighted by the National Ombudeperson for the rights of persons depri-ved of liberty, “the persons on board the ship are in a state of de facto depriva-tion of freedom: without the possibility of free disembarkation and without such impossibility of movement being supported by any provision legally defining this state. This could be a violation of Article 13 of the Constitution and Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) “.40

Not only were the rescued persons detained on the vessel, but they could not receive or make phone calls, either from their phone (seized upon entry on the

39 Press release by AIMMF21 August 2018 http://www.minoriefamiglia.it/pagina-www/mode_full/id_1268/%208 40 Press release by the National Ombudeperson for the rights of persons deprived of liberty http://www.garan-tenazionaleprivatiliberta.it/gnpl/it/dettaglio_contenuto.page?contentId=CNG3624&modelId=10019

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vessel) or using the phone from Coast Guard personnel or humanitarian workers on board. As a result, they could not communicate either with their relatives, or with a lawyer, or with human rights organizations, that were also not allowed to board the Diciotti. Only on the night of 25 August the landing of all the rescued people was finally authorized. For the detention of migrants on the Diciotti vessel (including the 29 unaccom-panied minors), the Minister of the Interior was investigated for kidnapping, at the initiative of the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Agrigento. The decision of the Court of Ministers of Catania is currently pending.

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DAI SALVATAGGI IN MARE ALLA CHIUSURA DEI PORTI

www.intersos.org