indians in italy – Artifex.News https://artifexnews.net Stay Connected. Stay Informed. Sun, 14 Jul 2024 09:41:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://artifexnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cropped-Artifex-Round-32x32.png indians in italy – Artifex.News https://artifexnews.net 32 32 Two Indian nationals arrested in Italy for enslaving 33 countrymen on farms https://artifexnews.net/article68402943-ece/ Sun, 14 Jul 2024 09:41:58 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article68402943-ece/ Read More “Two Indian nationals arrested in Italy for enslaving 33 countrymen on farms” »

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| Photo Credit: K. Pichumani

Two Indian nationals have been arrested for allegedly enslaving 33 farm labourers, all from India, in Italy’s Verona Province, according to a media report, weeks after the country was shocked by the tragic death of a Sikh farm worker who bled to death.

Finance police also seized assets worth 4,75,000 euros from the suspects, who own two agricultural sector companies with no employees on the books and are allegedly total tax evaders, ANSA news agency reported on July 13.

The two alleged gangmasters were arrested on July 13 and are under investigation for crimes, including enslavement and labour exploitation, the Italian news agency said.

The issue of modern forms of slavery in Italy recently came to the fore of media attention following the case of 31-year-old Sikh farm labourer Satnam Singh, who bled to death after being abandoned by his employer after a strawberry wrapping machine severed his arm in Lazio, near Rome, last month.

Singh, who was an Indian national, died due to “copious bleeding”, the ANSA news agency earlier reported.

On June 26, India asked Italy to take prompt action against those responsible for Singh’s death.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said last month that Singh, one of thousands of Indian immigrants who work the fields in the country, was the victim of “inhuman acts”.

“These are inhumane acts that do not belong to the Italian people. I hope that this barbarity will be punished harshly,” she said following a Cabinet meeting.

Gangmastering and the often violent exploitation of migrant farm labourers is a chronic problem in Italy, especially in the south of the country.

Latina hosts thousands of immigrant labourers, many of them Sikhs, working picking fruit and vegetables for the local ‘agro-mafia’, according to Italian media reports.

Workplace accident insurance agency INAIL said recently that fatal accidents in Italy had risen by four to 268 in the first four months of this year.

There were about 100 last year, it said.



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33 Indian Farm Labourers Freed From Slavery By Italy Police https://artifexnews.net/33-indian-farm-labourers-freed-from-slavery-by-italy-police-6097719/ Sat, 13 Jul 2024 11:38:31 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/33-indian-farm-labourers-freed-from-slavery-by-italy-police-6097719/ Read More “33 Indian Farm Labourers Freed From Slavery By Italy Police” »

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Victims will be given protection, work, and legal residency papers, the police said (Representational)

Rome:

Italian police said on Saturday they had freed 33 Indian farm labourers from slave-like working conditions in the northern Verona province and seized almost half a million euros ($545,300) from their two alleged abusers.

Labour exploitation is in the spotlight in Italy following an accident in June in which an Indian fruit picker died after his arm was severed by machinery.

In the latest case, police said the alleged gang masters, also from India, brought fellow nationals to Italy on seasonal work permits, asking them to pay 17,000 euros each and promising them a better future.

The migrants were given farm jobs, working seven days a week and 10-12 hours a day for just 4 euros an hour, which was entirely docked from them until they settled all their debts, the police said, describing the migrants’ treatment as “slavery”.

Some were asked to continue working for free to pay an additional 13,000 euros for a permanent work permit “which, in reality, would have never been given to them,” the police statement said.

The alleged abusers were charged with crimes connected to slavery and labour exploitation, while the victims will be offered protection, work opportunities, and legal residency papers, the police said.

Like other European nations, Italy has growing labour shortages often filled via immigration, particularly in lower-paid jobs, and has a migrant work visa system that has faced cases of fraud.

The country also has a problem with labour law violations. According to 2021 data from national statistics office Istat, about 11% of Italian workers were employed illegally, rising to more than 23% in agriculture.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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