The IOM is offering an information service for migrants who may be particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Be that because their jobs have disappeared, they can't pay their rent or they find themselves homeless or ill. The information service is currently available in eight languages with one more coming soon.
A UN special rapporteur has called out the "shocking abuse" of migrants picking strawberries in Spain. The migrants are mainly Moroccan women, who come in on seasonal visas to carry out the work. Their treatment has long been criticized by human rights groups working in the field of migrant rights.
A new, free app called Workeen was launched in Italy on the occasion of World Refugee Day. It is to help migrants, refugees and asylum seekers find work through a "serious game."
On June 12, a 37-year-old Senegalese migrant died in a fire in a migrant shanty town near Foggia, in the Puglia region of Italy. The fire broke out inside a shack in the migrant encampment of Borgo Mezzanone, a makeshift settlement near Foggia.
Qatar is one of the world's richest countries, but around 100 laborers from Southeast Asia and Africa working on a prestigious stadium project have not been paid in seven months, Amnesty International claims.
An investigation by Italian authorities uncovered a case of illegal gangmastering in Tuscany. Dozens of migrants were exploited as unregistered workers on construction sites.
Italy's governing coalition parties have finally agreed to introducing changes to employment permits for migrants in the country. The four coalition parties hope the measures will benefit migrants as well as help sectors hit by the coronavirus.
Germany is temporarily changing some of its labor laws for asylum seekers and people from third countries living in Germany without a work permit. The move comes in response to the labor shortage in agriculture during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fear of the novel coronavirus is growing among farmworkers near Foggia in southern Italy, the association ARCI has reported. A spokesman said that the migrant workers are now "staying in their shacks out of fear of catching COVID-19."
NGOs and local authorities in southern Italy have expressed concern for migrant farmworkers. Many have been left without a job and are living in dire conditions amid the coronavirus emergency.
Several unions and NGOs have called on the Italian government to "act immediately to protect the health of migrants" amid the coronavirus emergency. Migrants who live in shantytowns often can't take the necessary precautions against Covid-19.
The Italian farmworker labor union FLAI-CGIL has denounced that migrants are still working in the fields without adequate protection in the midst of the coronavirus emergency.