Migrants exploited by their fellow countrymen in northern Italy were paid three euros per hour for 11-hour days to prune vines and harvest grapes, according to an investigation by carabinieri in Venice, Padua, and Rovigo. The probe led to four being placed under house arrest on Wednesday.
Carabinieri police have arrested the owners of two agricultural companies in southern Italy. The arrests were carried out as part of a sweeping operation against the 'caporalato' gangmaster system, investigative sources said.
The Italian minister for agriculture Teresa Bellanova said an inter-ministerial plan will be presented in January to fight labor exploitation in the agriculture sector. She said it would include a platform allowing business owners to find the workers with the desired qualifications.
Italian authorities have discovered dozens of cases of irregular employment and exploitation of Italians and foreign workers in Italy's northern region of Trentino-Alto Adige. The cases took place in the agricultural sector over a period of just three months.
Carabinieri police say that 108 people have been arrested in 2019 so far for exploitative labor practices, that's double the number in 2018. Over 3,000 workers were found to have been subjected to exploitation in between 2018 and 2019.
Italy's agriculture minister has said that the government is committed to increasing the effectiveness of sector monitoring to prevent abusive labor practices.
At least one of the 39 smuggled migrants who suffocated or froze in a lorry in the UK last week is believed to have been a 26-year-old Vietnamese woman whose dream was to work in a nail salon. The tragedy has led to calls for a crackdown on trafficking of Vietnamese into the so-called nail bar business.
Many of the 39 people who were found dead in a truck in England are likely Vietnamese. Human trafficking from Vietnam to Western Europe is a million euro business – and extremely dangerous for those who embark on the journey.
An Italian farmer has been reported to the police on charges of exploiting a young man from Mali. The migrant reportedly had to live in a cement cube measuring only a few square meters, without a proper bathroom.
An Italian farmer has been arrested for shooting at migrant farmworkers to get them to work faster and more. The workers had been threatened repeatedly, an investigation found.
A mobile unit, set up in a camper, will bring medical, psychological, and legal assistance to migrant farmworkers living in shantytowns in the province of Foggia, southern Italy.
Three prefects and four state employees have been indicted by prosecutor's office of Venice, Italy. They are accused of fraud and having warned the management of a local reception center ahead of inspection visits.