2023-09-29 00:28:26
Italy wants to tighten the screws even more on immigration. The government of Giorgia Meloni presented a new law, focusing on minors who can now be temporarily accommodated in adult structures and will be subject to medical examinations to determine their age.
Under a draft decree approved Wednesday evening by the Council of Ministers, unaccompanied minors over the age of 16 may be placed for a maximum of 90 days in reserved spaces in reception centers intended for adults. This project must still be approved by Parliament, where the ultraconservative government of Giorgia Meloni has an absolute majority.
A “worrying” provision, the spokesperson for Unicef in Italy, Andrea Iacomini, was alarmed on Thursday. “We cannot put them with adults,” he denounced to AFP. Normally, unaccompanied minors, mothers with children or pregnant women are accommodated in reception centers with social and health services focused on integration, where they can benefit from language courses and professional training.
“Anthropometric measurements”
Giorgia Meloni defended this reform by pleading that from now on all women, including those who are not pregnant or do not have children, will be referred to these centers. But the text primarily targets young migrants claiming to be under 18 to avoid expulsion.
The decree authorizes “anthropometric measurements” and medical examinations, including radiographic examinations, to determine their age. “With these new rules, it will no longer be possible to lie about your true age,” Giorgia Meloni warned on her Facebook page. However, such examinations have already been authorized since 2017, in support of other, non-medical verification methods. “In concrete terms, it doesn’t change anything,” underlines the Unicef spokesperson, recalling that many minors come from countries where it is impossible to establish age based on civil status documents.
A controversial subject
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi warned Wednesday evening after the Council of Ministers that if the authorities conclude that a young migrant claiming to be a minor is of age, he risks expulsion.
The assessment of age, particularly through medical examinations, is very controversial. “There is currently no procedure for accurately estimating age and all methods have a significant margin of error,” according to the Council of Europe. “It is unacceptable to assess the age of a child based solely on the results of medical examinations, and the margins of error must be applied for the benefit of the person concerned,” argues the council in a report in 2019 .
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