The disappearance of unaccompanied migrant children in Europe : the cases of Italy and Ireland

Abstract

The interest of a further research on the topic of missing unaccompanied migrant children has been raised by the Europol‟s announcement of losing the traces of at least 10.000 since 2015. After presenting the extent to which the phenomenon has been addressed by governing and non governing actors, the research topic examined is whether the prevention of these disappearances has been taken into consideration in the 2016 Proposals for the reform of the Common European Asylum System and, particularly, in the proposed Reception Directive and EURODAC Regulation. For their evaluation it has been followed a comparative analysis with national legal frameworks of countries that have faced the problem and adapted their legislations on its prevention. Italy and Ireland have been chosen as the cases in order to examine the prevention of the phenomenon both in the context of a frontline and a destination country. From their comparison came out the regulations that could fill the still existing gaps, if transplanted on the EU level. The gaps show that the phenomenon has been perceived as an obstacle for the effective control of the migration flows in the broader context of the discourse about the securitisation of the EU borders.