A project titled "Rural Social ACT" was launched in Rome with the goal of fighting the problem of illegal gangmastering, stemming mafia practices, and promoting inclusion as well as social and job reinsertion for migrants.
Without an extension of stay permits for foreign seasonal workers, the harvest season is at risk, the organization of Italian agricultural producers, Coldiretti, has warned.
An app has been launched in Italy's southeastern city of Foggia for agricultural workers in rural areas nearby to reserve a place on a free bus. It will also help to counter labor exploitation.
On 26 July, Italian authorities carried out an operation against the illegal hiring of foreign workers at Grafica Veneta, a leading company in the printing of books and publications in Italy. Nine Pakistani citizens were arrested on charges of exploitation of fellow workers, along with two managers of the company.
Tens of thousands of Indians, mainly Sikhs from the Punjab region, live and work in Italy’s Pontine Marshes. Most live like slaves, in spite of ongoing efforts to bring attention to the problem.
Gloria Bresciani, the (suspended) Uber manager in Italy who is charged with alleged illegal gangmastering practices against riders, has been ordered to stand trial. According to the charges, Bresciani and three other defendants exploited "the state of need" of "migrant asylum seekers" who lived in "reception centers" and "in conditions of extreme vulnerability".
The southern Italian region of Calabria has obtained about one million euros to fund a project to fight human trafficking as well as sexual and labor exploitation, begging, arranged marriages, organ trafficking.
Italy's southern Apulia region has banned farm work during the hottest hours of the day, following the death of a migrant worker. Camara Fantamadi, from Mali, collapsed and died last week after working in the open in 40-degree heat.
The first "anti-gangmastering" help desk was presented in Italy, aimed at citizens of third countries who are victims or potential victims of labor exploitation in the country. The help desk will provide legal, trade union and administrative support.
A Milan court has convicted 10 members of an organization running a "system" that forged documents in order to gain management rights of reception facilities for hundreds of migrants. A woman was sentenced to 11 years in prison, the highest jail term handed down in the trial.
Italian authorities have carried out a sweeping operation that led to the arrest of seven people, including farmers and an alleged Senegalese gangmaster. Migrant workers had allegedly been forced to work very long shifts for just a few euros an hour.
Police have arrested a couple that allegedly exploited workers at a leather processing company in central Italy. Chinese, Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrants reportedly had to work 14 hours per day without breaks, for just over three euros per hour.