Carmelo Truccoli, director of Italy’s largest agricultural association, Coldiretti, told Reuters that “it may become easier” for the mafia to take advantage of some people in Italy, such as undocumented migrants, to get them to work in farms”.
Truccoli added: “We are fighting hard against this kind of crime in Italy because it affects all farmers, in the south, in the center, and in the north”.
In light of the outbreak of the Corona pandemic and the closure of borders between European countries, and the resulting large shortage of agricultural labor, especially seasonal workers from eastern European countries, there are fears that criminal gangs will exploit migrants who do not have documents in Italy, and use them as cheap labor in light of the weak rules governing agricultural work in the country.
work, and controlling supermarket chains in the country, and its annual sales profits is estimated at 24.5 billion Euros.
The mafia exploitation of migrants in farms in Italy is known as “caporalato”, and it is an illegal but well-established practice, under this system, migrants work illegally for long hours for less than the national minimum wage and are often subjected to violence.
It is estimated that more than 600.000 illegal migrants reside in Italy, mostly from African countries, who, according to Italian Minister of Agriculture Teresa Bellanova, are vulnerable such prey.
The Italian government and workers’ rights organizations had also warned of the rise in this form of “contemporary slavery” due to the lack of manpower in agriculture as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak in the country.
More than a dozen non-governmental and religious organizations in Italy have joined the callers to ensure the rights of migrants, including Caritas, and some have called for alternative solutions to the harvest.
Italy relies on up to 370.000 seasonal workers from abroad every year to work during the spring harvest.
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