Piantedosi announces new rules for unaccompanied minors

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 13 - Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi on Wednesday announced new rules for assessing and determining the age of unaccompanied foreign minors arriving in Italy.
    "Many migrants arrive in Italy declaring a lower age in order to take advantage of the protections provided for minors," said Piantedosi during question time in the Lower House.
    "The numbers of unaccompanied foreign minors, or those claiming to be such, have grown disproportionately", placing "unsustainable pressure on the reception system" and making it necessary to "reflect" on the existing regulatory framework, he continued.
    Unaccompanied foreign minors arriving in Italy are currently offered protection under a 2017 law that has been held up as a model of child protection internationally.
    The law introduced among other things a uniform age assessment procedure for minors arriving in Italy on their own and established that an individual should always be considered a minor in the event of doubt.
    Piantedosi did not say what the new rules would entail, although recent reports suggest that the government may be considering reversing the burden of proof so that in the event of doubt a self-declared minor could be considered an adult unless they can prove otherwise.
    However, he told lawmakers that "the interventions (that) are being defined to resolve the critical issues" would be "in full compliance with domestic and international law and the rights of the child".
    "We do not want to reduce protection in any way, but rather to speed up procedures and avoid consuming the resources allocated to minors, focusing them on those that really have the right to them," he said. (ANSA).