The Institution and Institutional and International Activities 

The 2024 Report to Parliament by the Italian Authority for the Protection of Children and Adolescents (AGIA), drafted in accordance with Law nº. 112/2011, provides a detailed overview of the institution's activities to ensure respect for the fundamental rights of minors, in line with the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

AGIA acts mainly through non-binding regulatory guidance instruments (soft law), formulating opinions and notes to guide government and parliamentary policies, as well as actively participating in the development of national plans for children. Over time, and particularly in the year under review, its institutional responsibilities have significantly expanded to include monitoring the voluntary guardianship system for unaccompanied foreign minors (MSNA) pursuant to Law nº. 47/2017, participation in the technical committee against cyberbullying, and monitoring digital citizenship education.

Furthermore, following the reforms introduced by Legislative Decree nº. 50/2024, the Authority joined the Interinstitutional Advisory Committee for Media and Digital Literacy, collaborating closely with AGCOM (the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority) to protect minors from exposure to harmful audiovisual content and to develop new self-regulatory codes for digital services.

One of the fundamental pillars of the Authority's work in 2024 was the enhancement of minors' right to be heard and actively participate in decisions that affect them, in accordance with the principles of the New York Convention. To realize this objective, AGIA has  complemented the existing  Consulta delle Ragazze e dei Ragazzi (Girls' and Boys' Council) with the National Council of Girls and Boys, made up of young representatives from associations in most of Italy's regions.

Through the digital platform lopartecipo, over 45,000 young people were able to express their opinions on crucial issues such as inclusive education, mental health, and gender-based violence. The results were incorporated into study documents and operational guidelines developed in collaboration with the National Council of Associations. The commitment to listening also extended to the most vulnerable groups, as demonstrated by inspection visits and projects carried out in collaboration with UNICEF and UNHCR in initial reception centers for unaccompanied foreign minors, as well as the photography initiative “Dalla Mia Prospettiva” (“From My Perspective"),  aimed at empowering young people held in juvenile detention centers.

Regarding psycho-physical well-being and social inclusion, the Report highlights important research projects and targeted interventions across the national territory. The various projects developed and coordinated by the AGIA, as well as those in which the Authority participated, will be discussed in the following chapters. 

Institutional activity was also intensely expressed through parliamentary hearings and the submission of formal notes to political bodies, placing a strong emphasis on the need to complement a punitive approach with targeted investments in education and social reintegration.

Specific proposals include making websites that promote anorexia or bulimia inaccessible to minors, introducing a law allowing those over 14 to request the removal of personal photos from social networks, and adopting a price cap on healthy food products for underprivileged families.

The Authority also expressed formal opinions on public safety (draft bill AC 1660) and the protection of minors in the digital environment, focusing on  key issues such as age verification for website access, regulation of baby influencers (children or teenagers who become famous on social media and who, with their videos and photos, attract thousands of fans and collaborate with brands for advertising) and the fight against the phenomenon of sharenting (the habit of parents posting photos, videos, and details about their children on social media).

Finally, the Report widely accounts for the dense network of bilateral collaborations and the intense international activity developed by the Authority during 2024. At the global and European level, AGIA operated as an effective member of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC). In these fora, Italy was able to illustrate its pioneering models, such as the protection of children of prisoners, while simultaneously collecting foreign comparative data on the school inclusion of students with disabilities and on the functioning of media committees in various European countries. 

The international commitment was also manifested through the endorsement of joint statements of condemnation for the continuous violations of children's rights in war contexts following the adoption of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum 

Listening and Participation

In March 2024, AGIA urged Italian institutions to adopt structural measures to guarantee minors' right to be heard and to actively participate in political and social decisions, in line with the New York Convention, as data shows that only 18.3% of student representatives feel truly involved with public institutions,

The Authority has recommended mandatory formal consultations before adopting legislation affecting young people. To make this involvement effective, bodies such as “La Consulta” and the National Council of Girls and Boys have been promoted, in addition to promoting extensive surveys on the digital platform lopartecipo on crucial issues such as post-pandemic mental health, school inclusion, and the perception of gender-based violence.

The Authority's work has also focused heavily on protecting and listening to the most vulnerable groups, implementing targeted interventions for Minori Stranieri non Accompagnati (MSNA - Unaccompanied Foreign Minors), and young people in the juvenile penal system. In addition to inspections of five reception centers, 78 migrant children of various nationalities were interviewed. They expressed an urgent desire to study the Italian language and expressed the suffering caused by idleness and a lack of information about their future.

In parallel, the photography project “Dalla mia Prospettiva” (“From My Perspective”) involved 22 adolescents from five juvenile prisons in creative self-reflection workshops, aimed at strengthening their dignity and social reintegration through art, culminating in a public exhibition in early 2025.

Youth advisory bodies have formulated impactful policy proposals formally submitted to the Government, calling for the establishment of free school psychological help desks accessible without parental consent, structural reforms of school buildings, the introduction of ius soli (right of the soil) for citizenship and a more stringent fight against child labor. The Council also proposed guidelines to prevent discrimination against LGBTQI+ youth and expanded its international cooperation with the European ENOC Network and the Council of Europe.

Well-being and inclusion to overcome disparities

During 2024, the Italian Authority for Children and Adolescents promoted a major research study on the post-pandemic mental health of minors in collaboration with the Superior Institute of Health (ISS - Istituto Superiore di Sanità) . At the same time, a public consultation among approximately 7,500 students revealed that 51.4% suffer from recurrent anxiety or prolonged sadness, as well as an increase in poor sleep and eating habits.

On the front of eating disorders, the Authority proposed stringent measures in parliamentary sessions, including the blocking of harmful websites, the right for minors over the age of 14 to request the removal of damaging online images, and a price cap on fruit and vegetables for lower-income families. 

On World Children's Day, AGIA denounced the profound regional disparities affecting children in Italy, highlighting critical gaps between North and South in healthcare migration for cancer treatment, the availability of pediatric intensive care beds, the number of social workers, and access to daycare.

To address these inequalities as part of the differentiated autonomy reform, in October 2024, the institution completed a mapping of the Essential Levels of Performance (LEP) to identify priority areas of intervention to protect children's civil and social rights. This general vulnerability is also reflected in the results of the "School and Inclusion" consultation, which revealed that 46.2% of students experience anxiety at school and 43.5% are aware of bullying incidents perpetrated against classmates with disabilities. This is in response to widespread calls for greater investment in school buildings and psychological support.

Regarding Unaccompanied Foreign Minors (MSNA), the document records the presence of 18,625 children in Italy as of December 31, 2024, a decrease of approximately 4,000 children compared to the previous year and concentrated mainly in Sicily and Lombardy, with a clear prevalence of boys over the age of 16.

To optimize the reception system, the Authority launched a new edition of the voluntary guardianship monitoring project in May 2024, aimed at reducing the time it takes to appoint guardians and strengthening the skills of institutional and third sector networks. 

Protection of minors in family relationships and the right to protection

The document also outlines the AGIA’s activities, focusing on the protection of minors in family relationships and in foster care. Among the main initiatives are the “Gruppi di Parola” (“Sharing Groups”), aimed at supporting children in coping with parental separation or bereavement, an activity that has included the publication of the illustrated book Perché proprio a me? (Why me?).

Furthermore, in 2024, AGIA completed a study on family mediation in Italy in light of the Cartabia reform, mapping judicial practices and university education. At the same time, it continued to monitor minors in residential facilities in collaboration with juvenile prosecutors, update the National Guidelines for Foster Care and Reception, and implement the Charter of Rights of Children of Imprisoned Parents.

Considerable attention is given to the right of minors to protection, with particular emphasis on juvenile justice and the digital dimension. In the 2024 parliamentary hearings, AGIA reiterated that juvenile detention must be a last resort, highlighting the limitations of facilities in the face of rising influxes and promoting restorative justice and the fight against educational poverty. Regarding the draft bill AC 1660 , the organization opposed raising children in prisons, calling instead for the expansion of protected family homes and greater protections for the children of justice collaborators.

In 2024, work began on the Third National Survey on Child and Adolescent Mistreatment in Italy, conducted jointly with CISMAI (Italian Coordination of Services Against Child Maltreatment and Abuse), Terre des Hommes, and ISTAT (Italian Nacional Institute of Statistics). The Authority also focused on protecting girls and young women at the international and national levels, welcoming the First European Directive on combating violence against women and supporting projects such as Y-Act for the prevention and fight against female genital mutilation.

Education for the present and the future

The document analyzes in detail the challenges of vocational training and the protection of regular child labor among 15- to 17-year-olds, highlighting significant inequalities in the opportunities offered by regional systems and the complexities of including unaccompanied or socially disadvantaged foreign minors. 

To address educational vulnerabilities, AGIA has promoted concrete initiatives such as the €660,000 call for proposals for the Third Sector - to combat school dropout, school mediation programs based on restorative justice, and the "Giochiamo i diritti" project, aimed at raising awareness among primary school children about the dangers of the digital environment.

In the context of technological and social evolution, the institutional body addressed the impact of artificial intelligence on minors, encouraging the development of critical thinking to address the "hallucinations" of digital systems and firmly condemning the misuse of apps aimed at undermining the dignity of peers. At the start of the 2024/2025 school year, civic education was strongly emphasized as a tool for solidarity and multicultural inclusion, rejecting the isolation of foreign students in favor of schools conceived as the primary place of genuine integration.

In this regard, the Authority called for serious legislative consideration to advance citizenship acquisition before the age of 18 for young people born and raised in Italy, considering it a key aspect to prevent feelings of marginalization and dangerous oppositional tendencies.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the document outlines the coordinated action of the Italian Authority for Children and Adolescents to actively protect minors in Italy. Institutional focus ranges from psychological support in family conflicts and residential or prison settings to combating educational poverty through school modernization. The 2024 evidence on child abuse and digital violence among adolescents confirms the urgent need for inclusive public policies, targeted statistical data, and robust digital education to safely guide new generations into the future.