Vulnerability and exploitation of migrant workers in Italian agriculture

Author: Alagie Jinkang, University of Bologna

Many migrants leave their countries with the hope and perception to find decent job opportunities, security and welfare in Europe. Yet, more often than not, they become victims of agricultural exploitation in Italy due to syndemic vulnerability, where several risk factors reinforce each other and increase vulnerability to exploitation. Since 2015, these arrivals have led to a migration management crisis in Italy. Newly arrived migrants are faced with legal, educational, socio-economic, cultural and linguistic barriers and frequently suffer from labour exploitation, trauma, racism, discrimination, ghettoization, violence and abuse. Despite the legal instruments and interventions to combat migrants’ agricultural exploitation in Italy, the phenomenon is highly tolerated throughout the peninsula. This brief presents the conditions that allow for migrants’ labour exploitation and formulates six recommendations to tackle the issue.