At the Italian Foreign Ministry, regular meeting of the Task Force on Disputed Minors

On 24 October, the regular meeting of the Task Force on Disputed Minors took place, a body established in 2009 to coordinate government action in the sensitive and complex issue of Italian children unlawfully taken out of the country.

Since the beginning of 2024, 107 new cases of disputed minors have been reported to the Italian Foreign Ministry, adding to those already being monitored, for a total of 527 cases handled, further underscoring the extent and seriousness of the phenomenon.

The Task Force is chaired by the Directorate-General for Italians Citizens Abroad at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and includes representatives from the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice. The working group focused on the most critical cases, including the situation of an Italian-American minor who, at just six months old, was taken to the United States and remains untraceable.

During the meeting, new topics were also addressed, such as cases involving Italian minors belonging to new multicultural family units and taken to countries that, not being part of international conventions, pose complex issues of balancing very different legal systems.

Cooperation between the relevant government institutions will continue regularly into the coming year.