Rome (dpa) - Italy on Wednesday passed a law granting unaccompanied migrant children and teens the same protections as Italian minors.From now on, every unaccompanied minor who reaches Italy will be assigned an individual guardian, will be eligible for public school and national health care, cannot be deported or repatriated, and is eligible for foster care.This is the first such law in Europe, Save the Children Italy said in a statement hailing the new measure as "historic.""This law considers them as children first - not foreigners, migrants, refugees, or any other category," Save the Children Italy and Europe Director Raffaella Milano told dpa.In 2016 over 25,800 minors, including children under the age of 10, reached Italy by sea without their parents or any adult guardian - more than double the number in 2015, according to Save the Children Italy, one of the prime sponsors of the bill.Almost 4,000 unaccompanied minors have reached Italy since the beginning of the year, according to the NGO.
