Author
Detention of unaccompanied children[1]
The law explicitly provides that unaccompanied children can never be detained.[2] However, there have been cases where unaccompanied children have been placed in CPRs following a wrong age assessment. Minors, both accompanied and unaccompanied, are also de facto detained in hotspots and, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, on quarantine vessels.
Hotspots: More than 12,000 minors have entered hotspots in Italy since 2016.[3] 10,491 children entered in hotspots in 2022; 7,341 were unaccompanied and 3,150 accompanied children.[4] Last report of the National Guarantor for the rights of detained persons reported that 11,785 minors entered in hotspots in 2024.[5]
It has been noted how the practice according to which, quoting the National Guarantor, “the foreign citizen is basically precluded from having correct personal data reported on the entry information sheet [foglio notizie]” in hotspots,[6] may easily lead to unlawful deprivation of liberty in detention facilities, and delayed disclosure/age assessment.
During the first 7 months of the pandemic, unaccompanied minors were also subject to fiduciary isolation or quarantine at hotspots. In the case of Lampedusa hotspot, unaccompanied minors were kept in social isolation conditions, accommodated in situations of promiscuity with adults, within often inadequate and overcrowded spaces and deprived of their personal liberty. In these circumstances, access by unaccompanied minors to dedicated and appropriate health and psychosocial support was significantly compromised.[7]
In October 2023, a delegation of the Asylum and Immigration Table visited the Pozzallo hotspot and its Contrada Cifali extension for unaccompanied foreign minors, finding a condition of social isolation and de facto deprivation of liberty of these minors.[8]
The European Court of Human Rights, in its decision of 23 November 2023 rendered in Case No. 47287/17 (A.T. and Others v. Italy),[9] condemned Italy for unlawfully detaining several unaccompanied foreign minors in the Taranto hotspot (Art. 5, paras. 1, 2, and 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights), for having used inhuman and degrading treatment in arranging their reception measures (Art. 3 of the Convention), for not having appointed a guardian nor having provided them with any information on the possibility of challenging this condition in court (Art. 13 of the Convention, in relation to Art. 3). Even though the judgement refers to events in 2017, the persistent situation in which previous repressive approaches to the detention of unaccompanied foreign minors in hotspots have not been changed requires respect for the rights guaranteed by the Convention.[10]
CPR: There is no official consolidated data on the number of persons detained in CPRs that declared to be minors and are recognised as such via the age assessment procedure. One case was reported in Palazzo San Gervasio.[11] According to ASGI, in 2021 a minor was detained in Turin’s CPR during an age assessment without the involvement of the Juvenile Court, violating the favor minoris principle. He was released after 95 days due to psychological vulnerability.[12] It has also been reported that migrants incorrectly registered as adults in Lampedusa often declare themselves to be minors upon arrival at Trapani’s Milo CPR. While waiting for age assessment, they may remain detained for weeks in areas that do not fully separate minors from adults.[13]
Borders: Cases of de facto detention of minors in border areas have also been reported.[14]
ASGI has urged Italian authorities to comply with the ban envisaged by current national legislation and by Article 37 of the CRC (“no child shall be deprived of their liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily”) concerning the detention of minors and their placement in structures characterised by conditions of promiscuity or forms of de facto detention, such as hotspots; ensure that reports concerning persons who declare themselves to be minors and who are present in CPRs, hotspots, or other facilities, are immediately taken in charge by competent authorities and that transfer to suitable structures is immediately arranged.[15]
The amendments made by Decree-Law 133/2023, converted by Law 176/2023, introduced exceptions in ascertaining the age of unaccompanied minors in case of large, multiple and close arrivals, following search and rescue activities at sea, or apprehension at the border or in transit zones. In such cases, wide discretion is granted to the public security authorities in the identification procedures, by carrying out anthropometric or other health assessments, including X-rays, aimed at identifying age. The only limit for the public security authorities is the request for authorisation that must be sent in writing to the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Juvenile Court who has to give authorisation. In particularly urgent cases, authorisation may be given orally and only subsequently confirmed in writing.[16]
ASGI pointed out how the new provisions introduced by Law Decree 133/2023 run the risk of nullifying the rules and protocols that were in force until then, which, although not formally affected, are weakened in relation to the possible extension of the application of the new derogatory procedure, which focuses on the rapidity of the outcome to the detriment of the guarantees for the person.
On a completely discretionary basis, because there are no parameters or reference indications laid down by law, the public security authorities can decide whether to start the ordinary procedure, which, as seen, requires an assessment based on several methods to be applied together and the initiation of proceedings at the Juvenile Court with the adoption of a final decree, or whether to, outside of the multidisciplinary approach, also subject a person claiming to be a minor to individual examinations, including radiological examinations, the (un)reliability of which has been debated for years.[17]
Detention of other vulnerable groups
Detention of children in families in CPR is not prohibited. Children can be detained together with their parents if they request it and if decided by the Juvenile Court. In practice, very few children are detained.
The law also prohibits the detention of vulnerable persons,[18] although in practice shortcomings regarding identification and age-assessment procedures at the hotspot means that this is not always ensured.[19] According to the law, in the framework of the social and health services guaranteed in CPR, an assessment of vulnerability situations requiring specific assistance should be periodically provided.[20] In CPR, however, legal assistance and psychological support are not systematically provided, although the latter was foreseen in the tender specifications schemes (capitolato) published by the Ministry of Interior on 4 March 2024. Although the standards of services in the CPRs are planned in accordance with national legislation on the management of the centres and on specific procedures to be followed when vulnerability is detected.[21] they are insufficient and inadequate, particularly for vulnerable groups of individuals as found by recent simultaneous visits carried out in April 2024 in Italian CPRs.[22] Moreover, the quality of services may differ from one CPR to another. In this respect, the Reception Decree provides that, where possible, a specific place should be reserved to asylum applicants,[23] and Article 4(i) of the Directive of Minister of Interior of May 2022,[24] which deleted the previous Regulation of 20 October 2014 of the Minister of Interior, provides the same for persons with special reception needs.
Issues with protection of persons with special needs in detention have been reported by the Guarantor, who has stressed the need for enhanced referral mechanisms and continuous monitoring of health conditions of detained persons, via stipulation of MoU with local sanitary services.[25] ASGI’s monitoring of CPRs has stressed that in these places, vulnerabilities are often ignored and unaddressed: minors, people with disabilities, victims of abuse, asylum applicants, people accused of serious crimes or socially dangerous people are mixed together, which increases the tensions and risks of crises.[26]
In 2024 , 87 women had been detained in the CPR; only 6 of them were returned, while 65 were released after the non-validation of the detention ordered by the judges and 1 released because she was not identified by the deadline.[27]
The enhanced vulnerability of women in detention and the many criticalities of the women’s section of Rome’s CPR have been repeatedly noted.[28]
Women are a minority in hotspots, representing only 7% of the total number of persons held in hotspots in 2024 (5,337 out of 77,267).
[1] See also for an overview on these cases, the communications sent by ASGI under Rule 9.2 of the Rules of the Committee of Minister concerning the case of Darboe and Camara v. Italy (Application No. 5797/17) on November 2023, available at https://bit.ly/4c5o6BT and on January 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/45bcDyD.
[2] Article 19(4) Reception Decree.
[3] ASGI, Unaccompanied minors: critical conditions at Italian internal and external borders, June 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/34PNMpg.
[4] Report to Parliament Annexes to the yearly report of the National Guarantor for the rights of detained persons, June 2023, available at: https://rb.gy/r73ey6.
[5] Report to Parliament Annexes to the yearly report of the National Guarantor for the rights of detained persons, June 2026,,relating to 2024 and supplemented by data from 2025, available in Italian here.
[6] National Guarantor for the rights of detained persons, Rapporto sulle visite effettuate nei CPR (2019 – 2020), available in Italian at: https://lc.cx/iBkl4R.
[7] ASGI, Unaccompanied minors: critical conditions at Italian internal and external borders, June 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/34PNMpg.
[8] ASGI, ‘A 12 anni nell’hotspot “dedicato” ai minori: Report da Pozzallo e Cifali’, October 2023, available in Italian at: https://lc.cx/KYzoKq.
[9] ECtHR, No. 47287/17, A.T. and others v. Italy, 23 November 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3PxZCZ1.
[10] ASGI, ‘CEDU: minori stranieri detenuti illegalmente nell’hotspot di Taranto. ASGI: vanno ricollocati’, November 2023, available in Italian at: https://rb.gy/kjrj8l.
[11] LASCIATECIENTRARE, Dietro le mura. Abusi, violenze e diritti negati nei CPR d’Italia, October 2022, available in Italian at: https://rb.gy/daoyns.
[12] ASGI, The Black book on the Pre-Removal Detention Centre (CPR) of migrants in Turin – Corso Brunelleschi, September 2021, available at: https://rb.gy/zezi9h.
[13] National Guarantor for the rights of detained persons, Rapporto sulle visite effettuate nei CPR (2019 – 2020), available in Italian at: https://bit.ly/3MPri93
[14] In 2020, concerns were raised about age assessment procedures at the Italy–Slovenia border, where police reportedly identified some migrants as adults through visual assessment (de visu), despite their claims of being minors and without following the safeguards required by Law 47/2017. Directives issued by the Public Prosecutor in Trieste allowed this practice, giving police broad discretion instead of requiring judicial oversight and multidisciplinary age assessment. In at least four cases, the Juvenile Court of Trieste later ordered proper age assessment procedures after appeals from minors who had been wrongly placed in adult facilities. See ASGI, Unaccompanied minors: critical conditions at Italian internal and external borders, June 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/34PNMpg.
[15] Ibidem.
[16] Article 19(6bis) Reception Decree, as amended by Article 5 Decree Law 133/2023 converted by L 176/2023.
[17] ASGI, Informal hearing as part of the examination of Bill C. 1458, converting Decree-Law No. 133 of 2023 on urgent provisions on immigration and international protection, as well as on support for security policies and the functionality of the Ministry of the Interior, October 2023, available at: https://lc.cx/8nQzrf.
[18] Article 7(5) Reception Decree, as amended by Article 8 Decree Law 13/2017 and L 46/2017.
[19] ASGI, Unaccompanied minors: critical conditions at Italian internal and external borders, June 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/34PNMpg.
[20] Article 7(5) Reception Decree.
[21] Ministry of Interior, Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration, Vademecum per la rilevazione, il referral e la presa in carico delle persone portatrici di vulnerabilità in arrivo sul territorio ed inserite nel sistema di protezione e di accoglienza, 21 June 2023, available in Italian here.
[22] Tavolo Asilo e Immigrazione, CPR D’ITALIA: PORRE FINE ALL’ABERRAZIONE. Proposta politica per la chiusura, December 2024, available in Italian here.
[23] Article 7(1) Reception Decree.
[24] Ministry of Interior, Direttiva recante “Criteri per l’organizzazione e la gestione dei centri di permanenza per i rimpatri previsti dall’art. 14 del decreto legislativo 25 luglio 1998, n. 286 e successive modificazioni”, available in Italian at: https://rb.gy/tjhasw.
[25] National Guarantor for the rights of detained persons, Summary document concerning the CPRs, also in the light of the monitoring activities carried out by the local Guarantors in the exercise of the visit powers conferred to them by the National Guarantor in January-March 2023, April 2023, available at: https://rb.gy/lqzpdg.
[26] ASGI, The Black book on the Pre-Removal Detention Centre (CPR) of migrants in Turin – Corso Brunelleschi, September 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3CQZQD5; see also CILD, Come in un manicomio. Rinchiusə nella sezione femminile del Cpr di Roma, 5 August 2024, available in Italian here; NAGA, CPR di Macomer: 15 mesi di reclusione di una persona fragile, 10 February 2025, available in Italian here.
[27] See the Action Aid project Trattenuti. Una radiografia del sistema detentivo per stranieri, available in Italian.
[28] Il Post, ‘Nessuno aiuta le donne al centro di detenzione di Ponte Galeria’, January 2021, available in Italian here; Annalisa Camilli, ‘Chi sono le donne rinchiuse nel centro di espulsione di Roma’, Internazionale, February 2019, available at: http://bit.ly/3KT7qQD.