Human trafficking in Italy

In 2010 Italy was a destination and transit country for women, children, and men trafficked transnationally for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children were trafficked mainly from Nigeria, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Albania, and Ukraine but also from Russia, South America, North and East Africa, the Middle East, China, and Uzbekistan. Chinese men and women were trafficked to Italy for the purpose of forced labor. Roma children continued to be trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced begging. Reportedly, an increasing number of victims were trafficked for labor, mostly in the agricultural sector. According to one NGO, 90 percent of foreign seasonal workers were unregistered and two-thirds are in Italy illegally, rendering them vulnerable to trafficking. The top five source countries for agricultural workers were Romania, Pakistan, Albania, and Ivory Coast. Traffickers reportedly were moving victims more frequently within Italy, often keeping victims in major cities for only a few months at a time, in an attempt to evade police detection.^[2]

In March 2010, 69 people in connection with the Russian Mafia were arrested in various European countries, including Italy.^[3] In June 2010, Italian and Romanian authorities cracked down on a human trafficking network that included over 150 women, including minors, that were being sexually exploited. 14 people were detained in various Romanian regions and 26 were arrested in Italy. Among the 57 people that were found to be involved in the network, the majority were Romanians, but among them were also Italians, an Albanian and an Egyptian.^[4]

The New York Times reported in September 2010, that Italian officials in Prato could account for an increasing amount of illegal Chinese immigrants who are buying out Italian businesses and changing the "made in Italy" image that is so well known. Organized crime is on the rise, including illegal fabric importation, human trafficking, prostitution, gambling and money laundering. Authorities raided over 154 Chinese-owned businesses in the first half of 2010, at the time there were over 3,000 registered Chinese-owned businesses. Police forces do not have the man-power in order to stay on top of the immigration problem. Several Italian Officers were arrested earlier that year for taking bribes in exchange for residence permits.^[5]

In December 2010, Health Rights Watch reported about the abuse upon migrants which were allowed by many governmental policies and protection gaps. Among those listed was Italy, who through the supply of boats and crews to the Libyan coastal patrols, was indirectly sending migrants, mostly sub-Saharan African, into Libyan detentions which are of degrading condition and inhuman.^[6] Libya and Italy created a deal in order to cut off the main sea route to Europe for the illegal African migrants, which in turn sent the majority of the boats to Israel, who recorded a 300% increase at the beginning of 2010.^[7]

The Government of Italy did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in 2022, but it made significant efforts to do so.^[8]

In 2023 the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country at Tier 2.^[9]

In 2023, the Organised Crime Index gave the country a score of 7 out of 10 for human trafficking, noting that most victims were moved to Italy from Nigeria and northern Africa.^[10]

The 2024 GRETA report noted that almost 15,000 possible victims had been identified since 2019 (mostly women); it also noted the government’s new national plan and identification procedures, as well as extra funding for victim support.^[11]

The Government of Italy continued its strong law enforcement efforts in 2007. Italy prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons through its Measures Against Trafficking in People law of 2003, which prescribes penalties on conviction of between eight and twenty years' imprisonment. These penalties are considered sufficiently stringent and are comparable with those prescribed for forcible sexual assault. The government's 2006 legislation to expand its labor trafficking law and introduce new penalties for job recruiters remains in draft form.

In a major case in April 2007, the courts sentenced four Italians and three Romanian human traffickers to between three and 12 years' imprisonment after they were convicted for the forced prostitution and exploitation of 200 Roma children between 2004 and 2006. In June 2007, the government prosecuted eight other perpetrators on charges of sexually exploiting children by coercing them into performing sexual acts in exchange for small gifts. Government investigations resulting from the previously reported large-scale anti-trafficking crackdown, "Operation Spartacus", between October 2006 and January 2007, are reported to be still ongoing. In 2007 Italian prosecutors launched trafficking investigations against 1,202 individuals, prosecuted 80 trafficking cases, and the courts convicted 163 traffickers in. The average sentence was four years. The government reported that most traffickers remain in detention during the criminal proceedings. For sentences of more than two years, defendants are not eligible for suspended sentences. The government continued its prosecution of 19 traffickers from a 2006 case involving the trafficking of 113 Polish tomato pickers in Apulia who were exploited in forced labor conditions, and planned to begin to prosecute an additional four perpetrators in early 2008. After local Italian police were initially slow to respond, prosecutors and Carabinieri vigorously investigated allegations of official complicity when notified and found no evidence to support the allegations.

According to an NGO based in Genoa working with Nigerian victims of human trafficking, some government officials have been imprisoned for facilitating trafficking.^[2]