(Vatican Radio) The OSCE’s Special Representative for Combating Human Trafficking
has been meeting with Italian and African authorities in Rome to discuss the extent
of this modern day scourge and find effective ways to combat it.
The Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Maria Grazia Giammarinaro is in Rome for
a high level seminar Friday at Italy’s Parliament focusing on irregular migration
in the Mediterranean region. The seminar was called to shed light on the “often-hidden
exploitation of migrants,” highlight the need for the protection of their human rights
and the implementation of common commitments on human trafficking.
Speaking
to Tracey McClure ahead of Friday’s seminar, Giammarinaro said “contrary to what is
commonly perceived, irregular migration through the sea is a just a small part of
irregular migration. At least the assessment is that in the whole Mediterranean region,
ten percent of the arrivals are by sea. But of course this phenomenon, which is the
most visible, is also the most horrible in terms of loss of human lives. For example,
according to the UNHCR, the UN agency for refugees, there are 1,500 people dying or
missing in the attempt of reaching the European Union through the Mediterranean Sea.”
“In
addition, so many others get lost in the shadow economy. Their situation of social
vulnerability is also linked to their irregular migration status (and this) is used,
and of course misused, by intermediaries, organized crime, smugglers, traffickers
and unscrupulous employers. So in other words, we want to shed light on this reality.
The reality of people who try to achieve a better life for themselves, for their families,
and (end up) getting trapped in a situation of exploitation, sometimes in slavery
like conditions.”
But the exploitation of migrants, Giammarinaro says, is not
always hidden.
“We can see exploitation in fields, agriculture, in construction
sites. (We see it) less in domestic work because this is a really hidden form of exploitation
in many situations. But the problem is the perception of exploitation is very often
missing. For example, it is very easy to hear people saying:… they, the third country
nationals, are paid less than nationals but anyway, they are better off than they
were at home. And this is a very, very dangerous cultural pattern because this is
justification of exploitation. And this amplifies the perception that these people,
migrant workers, can be subject to extreme forms of exploitation.”
Giammarinaro
illustrates the example of migrants working in the agricultural area as being particularly
vulnerable to exploitation:
“In the tomato picking for example, there are…
a few investigations underway showing how this exploitation can be really devastating
for a human being. Because when a person is obliged to work fourteen hours a day without
a salary because he or she has to pay back the debt to the smugglers for the travel
or for very little salary and they are not able to send anything home. And of course,
this for many is the basic reason why they migrate: to support their families. And
they live in inhuman conditions, without electricity and in very remote areas, and
in addition they have to pay enormous amounts of money for simple things like a bottle
of water to the intermediaries that place them in exploitative jobs. And this is
reality. This emerged from investigations underway for example in Italy.”
Listen
to Tracey McClure’s extended interview with Maria Grazia Giammarinaro in which she
describes the on-going effects of the Arab Spring on irregular migration, the increasing
power of organized crime, and how countries can more effectively combat the phenomenon: