Carabinieri military police in 2019 carried out a total of 263 investigations against the gangmaster system in Italy, Labor Minister Nunzia Catalfo said this week. The Italian government is expected to approve a three-year plan to fight the phenomenon by the end of January.
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.
A prosecutor in Calabria has said that in Italy there is a lack of "political choices that should solve and prevent" the exploitation of migrant farmworkers. His comments came after the arrest of 13 gangmasters and seven businessmen working in the agricultural area of Gioia Tauro in Calabria.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella has bestowed the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic to Maria Coletti for her dedication to helping immigrant children learn Italian.
In 2019, the online information site "Black Post" was set up in Italy. Staffed by immigrants, its aim is to tackle the subject of migration in a clear and humanizing fashion. The site focuses on bringing migrants' personal stories to their audience.
Ella Antony, a 33-year-old Nigerian migrant who came to Italy five years ago now works at a Carrefour supermarket in Rome, going from strength to strength. After a grueling trip across Africa and the Mediterranean five years ago, she has successfully integrated into her new life in Italy, and is loving every moment of it.
13 people have been arrested in a joint Italian-Greek police operation to break up an alleged smuggling gang. The gang specialized in sailing small groups of migrants between Greece and the south-east Italian coast.
There were 6,222,000 foreigners residing in Italy as of January 1, 2019, according to a new report. The total population of Italy was 60,360,000. That means that roughly one in ten residents in Italy is a foreigner.
Most non-EU citizens in Italy will no longer be blocked from receiving the citizenship wage basic income, the Italian social security and pensions agency INPS announced last week. Many applicants had their requests blocked due to missing documents regarding assets in their home countries.
Migrants in the northern Italian city of Turin can now access a virtual map showing services from the closest toilet to the opening hours of the legal aid office. 'OASI on the street' - the app - was launched last week. Its creators, themselves refugees, hope that it will help migrants to make well-informed choices as well as offering immediate practical support.
With the help of migrant and disabled workers, the Italian association 'Agricoltura Capodarco' produces the wine Xenia, which means ''hospitality'' in ancient Greek. The goal is to fight a ''climate of hatred'' that is gaining ground in Italy, producers said during the presentation of the beverage.
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.