ITALIAN REGIONS AND
UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN
In 2017 more than 90 per cent of the children travelled alone while in 2015 the unaccompanied accounted for 75 per cent. This year has also seen an increase of children from Egypt but most still come from West Africa. With reference to the territorial distribution in Italia, the data show a greater concentration of minors in regions most exposed to the phenomenon of the arrivals by sea or in those in which there are large cities. It should be emphasized in that unaccompanied minors world is very variegated because of biographical diversity. An Afghan minor who has witnessed the horror of the executions or torture and decides to escape to save himself is very different from a peer his Egyptian enlisted by criminal groups, who saw him as a source of gain and organize his travel to Italy.
“Some of the children are deeply distressed from the journey, they witnessed drownings, some have terrible chemical burns from the fuel on the dinghies, the babies and their mothers need special care in breastfeeding, they all need proper protection and accommodation and it is just taking far too long for them.”
Among the main host regions, we find:
Sicily (4109), Calabria (1126), Puglia (1102), Lombardia (931), Emilia Romagna (783) and Tuscany (521).
In the breakdown by minors origin, at the top: Egypt (2753), Albania (1432), Eritrea (1177), Gambia (1161), Nigeria (697), Somalia (686) and Bangladesh (681).
Girls in particular are at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, including commercial sexual exploitation by criminal gangs, UNICEF said.
Lucio Melandri, UNICEF senior emergency manager, affermed: “The presence of so many unaccompanied or separated children along the Central Mediterranean route is unprecedented. We have a serious and growing problem on our hands."