The Italian Labour Ministry said it has recorded a total of 6,775 foreign unaccompanied minors on Italian soil, of whom 4,788 were untraceable as of August 31.



Deputy Labour Minister Vito Crimi called it an "extremely considerable problem", responding to a question during question time in the Lower House.



A total of 1,011 unaccompanied minors have arrived on Italian shores thus far in 2019, Crimi said.



He said the interior ministry has enacted initiatives "aimed at making the reception system increasingly more adequate".



He said the measures include training programmes for reception centre personnel to raise their awareness about "the importance of promptly enacting protective measures for unaccompanied minors".

