European Union values:
"For six years, Balbir Singh lived in what can only be described as slave-like conditions tending cattle in the province of Latina, a rural area south of Rome that is home to tens of thousands of Indian migrant workers like him."
newindianexpress.com/world/2021/jul…
"For six years, Balbir Singh lived in what can only be described as slave-like conditions tending cattle in the province of Latina, a rural area south of Rome that is home to tens of thousands of Indian migrant workers like him."
newindianexpress.com/world/2021/jul…
"Officers found him living in a caravan, with no gas, hot water or electricity, and eating the leftovers that his boss either threw in the bin or gave to chickens and pigs.
Singh had to wash in the stables, with the same hosepipe he used to clean cattle..."
Singh had to wash in the stables, with the same hosepipe he used to clean cattle..."
“When I found a lawyer ready to help me, (the owner) told me, ‘I’ll kill you, I’ll dig a hole, throw you in it, and fill it up’. He had a gun, I saw it,” he recalled.
Singh said he was beaten up a couple of times, and had his identity papers taken away.
Singh said he was beaten up a couple of times, and had his identity papers taken away.
"The UN’s special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery estimated in 2018 that more than 400,000 agricultural workers in Italy risk being exploited and almost 100,000 likely face “inhumane conditions”."
"In the Agro Pontino, a major hub for greenhouse farming, floriculture and buffalo mozzarella production, Indians have been a presence since the mid-1980s.
They work on land drained from marshes in the 1930s, one of the biggest public works projects enacted under Mussolini."
They work on land drained from marshes in the 1930s, one of the biggest public works projects enacted under Mussolini."
"Marco Omizzolo, who helped free Singh, says between 25,000 and 30,000 Indians live in the Agro Pontino, mostly Sikhs ...
Under an illegal but well-established system, they live under the thumb of “caporali”, the gangmasters who recruit farm labourers on behalf of land owners."
Under an illegal but well-established system, they live under the thumb of “caporali”, the gangmasters who recruit farm labourers on behalf of land owners."
"[A recent police] operation led to the arrest of a doctor in the beach town of Sabaudia.
He was accused of illegally prescribing more than 1,500 boxes of Depalgos, a powerful painkiller containing Oxycodone and given to cancer patients, to 222 Indian farm workers."
He was accused of illegally prescribing more than 1,500 boxes of Depalgos, a powerful painkiller containing Oxycodone and given to cancer patients, to 222 Indian farm workers."
“The drug presumably allowed them to work longer in the fields by relieving pain and fatigue,” Latina chief prosecutor Giuseppe De Falco said.
"Typically, they are offered contracts but then are paid for only a fraction of their work.
“You may work 28 days, but they’ll mark only four on your pay slip, so at the end of the month you may get 200, 300 euros,” Omizzolo said.
“Formally, it is all by the book,” he added."
“You may work 28 days, but they’ll mark only four on your pay slip, so at the end of the month you may get 200, 300 euros,” Omizzolo said.
“Formally, it is all by the book,” he added."
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