The General Secretariat for Vulnerable Citizens and Institutional Protection publishes the Report for the year 2024, highlighting a year of substantial progress in the institutional protection and support of unaccompanied minors and vulnerable third-country nationals or stateless persons.
The Secretariat's central objective remains to ensure the rights, protection and social inclusion of the most vulnerable groups, through a coherent framework of policies, actions and collaborations at the national and international levels.
Flagship initiatives for 2024 included:
- The implementation of the National Guardianship System with the aim of ensuring that every unaccompanied and separated minor is institutionally represented, receives appropriate care and has their rights protected at every stage.
- Strengthening the National Emergency Response Mechanism (NERM)
- Processing over 4,500 requests for accommodation for unaccompanied minors
- Strengthening child protection on the islands.
- The General Secretariat's mission was expanded to other categories of vulnerable third-country nationals or stateless persons, beyond unaccompanied minors.
In 2024, the National Strategy for the Protection of Vulnerable Persons was drawn up , which is expected to be published in 2025 and aims to create a coherent, dynamic and sustainable framework for the protection of vulnerable persons.
The General Secretariat played a central role in the preparation of the National Implementation Plan of the "New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum", which is fully implemented by 2026. Focusing on the rights of unaccompanied minors and vulnerable persons, the necessary legislative and administrative adjustments were recorded to comply with the new guarantees.