Contemporary slaverythe exploitation of migrants in italian agriculture

Resumen

The research aims to describe and raise awareness on the exploitation faced most particularly by Senegambian migrants in the Italian agricultural sector; to explore and investigate the socio-political, legal, economic, historical and cultural context in which it takes place. Therefore, to serve this purpose, the objectives of the research are: 1) To analyse the historical heritage of the studied target group, precisely to identify the similarities, differences and the context that the ancestors of Senegalese and Gambian migrant workers faced between the fifteenth and nineteenth century: the early modern chattel slavery and their contemporary situations of slavery. 2) To study the history of gang-mastering ("Caporalato"), the functioning and methodology that characterises the system of "Agromafia" as a national phenomenon. 3) To examine the value chain of the agro-alimentary market: prices, big companies, small farmers, mafia and the farmworkers. 3) To conduct a case study and present the working and living conditions of Senegambian agricultural workers living in the agricultural ghetto of "Contrada Erbe bianche" in Campobello di Mazara but who also work in Castelvetrano and Partanna area of Trapani, Sicily. 5) To examine which laws, policies and action plans are ruling the agricultural sector of Italy and what measures have been taken or are in place to prevent the exploitation of agricultural workers. 6) To examine the current Italian and European immigration policies, institutional practices of integration (such as asylum centres) and their consequences on TCNs. 7) To present the process how the immigration policies and the criminalisation of migration are contributing to the marginalisation of Third Country Nationals (TCNs) and resulting in their vulnerability that potentially push them to be exploited by the system of the "Agromafia". 8) To explore the patterns, roots and causes of the Senegalese migrations, and the impact of remittances on local development and households back home. 9) To present the implications of the exploitation of Senegambian migrants on the individuals, on the families, communities and economy of their home country and on Italy. 10) To provide as an emperial evidence the severe labour exploitation and conditions of contemporary slavery of migrant workers on the one hand, and on the other, to further improve the quality, value and extent of our human rights discourse concerning their weaknesses, loopholes and contradictions in the field of current procedures in the agricultural field, European immigration and the labour market integration of TCNs. 11) To identify possible intervention strategies and human right policies that can be considered to improve the life conditions of TCNs and agricultural workers generally in order to protect them from labour exploitation. 12) As a whole, this research should serve as a useful resource for the Italian government, European Commission, researchers and international organisations and NGOs.