Through the EPO4YOUTH project

Through the EPO4YOUTH project, our network will focus on the situation of young people in detention, promoting research tools and food for thought on the protection of youth rights across Europe.

We have decided to work on this specific issue because conditions of detention for minors are causing growing concern in several European countries. The situation in Italy is a clear example of this concern.
Associazione Antigone, our long-standing partner, repeatedly raised the alarm on the state of the Italian juvenile justice system. According to its 2025 submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, juvenile detention centres are facing overcrowding for the first time and limited access to educational and rehabilitative programs. According to the association, there is a real paradigm shift based on a securitarian and punitive approach at the expense of the educational one that has traditionally characterized the Italian juvenile justice system.

In February 2026, Antigone will publish its next report on juvenile justice on its website Ragazzi dentro. The report is the result of monitoring carried out by Antigone’s Observatory, which since 2008 has been authorized by the Ministry of Justice to visit all Italian juvenile prisons.

The Italian case reflects a wider European challenge: ensuring that deprivation of liberty is always a measure of last resort and that every young person has access to a safe, rehabilitative environment.

Learn more about the Italian situation