Exploitation in the Agri-Food Sector in Europe. A Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Migration and Labour Regimes in Producing Migrants’ Vulnerabilities

Although political attention has been devoted to the exploitation of migrant farmworkers in Southern Europe, migrant workers also experience exploitive practices in the agri-food systems of Northern EU countries. Building on critical studies on vulnerability and exploitation and on migration and labour regimes, and drawing on the papers in this Special Issue of EJML, this article critically compares labour migration policies and models for labour market regulations in Northern and Southern European countries (specifically Italy, Spain, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands), underlining how policies and legislation on migration and labour mobility have contributed to creating specific situational vulnerabilities – especially with respect to the interplay of legal status, nationality and gender – which are exploited within agri-food systems. While there have been relevant national initiatives aimed at addressing the rights of migrant farmworkers during the pandemic, in most of the examined European countries these have mainly consisted of short-term and reparative measures which fail to address the root causes of vulnerabilities to exploitation

Beyond face value: involuntary emotional anticipation in typical development and Asperger's syndrome

Understanding and anticipating the behavior and associated mental/emotional states of mind of others is crucial for successful social interactions. Typically developed (TD) humans rely on the processing and integration of social cues that accompany other’s actions to make, either implicitly or explicitly, inferences about others’ mental states. Interestingly, the attribution of affective or mental states to the agent can in turn (top down) induce distortions in the visual perception of those actions (Hudson, Liu, & Jellema, 2009; Hudson & Jellema, 2011; Jellema, Pecchinenda, Palumbo, & Tan, 2011). The aim of this thesis was to investigate bottom-up and top-down influences on distortions in the perception of dynamic facial expressions and to explore the role those biases may play in action/emotion understanding

10 Years After the Directive 2011/36/EU. Lights and shadows in addressing the vulnerability of trafficked and exploited migrants

a formal National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in place to identify and assist victims and support their full social inclusion. Assistance is nearly always dependent on victims’ cooperation with the authorities, in contrast with the principle of unconditional assistance. The non-punishment principle is not implemented or not implemented correctly. Also, trafficked persons are not addressed adequately regarding their vulnerabilities and their gender-related needs. Anti-trafficking institutions and organisations do not receive sufficient resources, and, in many countries, political and legal anti-trafficking measures tend to focus mainly on criminalisation and to conflate with restrictive migration policies, increasing persons’ vulnerability to exploitation. Many EU member states lack National Rapporteurs or fully independent equivalent mechanisms

VULNER POLICY BRIEF: ITALY

EU law requires that the special reception needs of vulnerable asylum seekers be identified and addressed, and that special procedural guarantees be provided. Similarly, the UN Global Compacts for Migration and on Refugees require states to develop their migration and asylum policies in ways that consider the vulnerabilities that migrants and refugees may be facing. To this end, the Italian team of the VULNER project studied how vulnerable asylum seekers (and other vulnerable migrants) are identified, and how their special reception and procedural needs are assessed and addressed by the Italian asylum authorities. They examined legislation, case law, policy documents and administrative guidelines. They conducted 44 interviews with members of international organizations, civil servants and judges in Italy. This Policy Brief explores the findings of this research, highlighting the challenges and the shortcomings observed in Italy, as well as proposing concrete policy recommendations

Vulnerability in the Asylum and Protection System in Italy: Legal and Policy Framework and Implementing Practices

This research report has been published as part of the EU Horizon 2020 research project (www.vulner.eu). The VULNER research project is an international research initiative, the objective of which is to reach a more profound understanding of the experiences of vulnerabilities of migrants applying for asylum and other humanitarian protection statuses, and how they could best be addressed. It therefore makes use of a twofold analysis, which contrasts the study of existing protection mechanisms for vulnerable migrants (such as minors and victims of human trafficking) with the experiences of migrants on the ground. This research report presents some of the intermediate research results of the VULNER project based on the first phase of the project. This phase consisted of mapping out the vulnerability assessment mech- anisms developed by state authorities in Italy, including how they are implemented on the ground through the practices of the public servants in charge

Essential Farmworkers and the Pandemic Crisis: Migrant Labour Conditions, and Legal and Political Responses in Italy and Spain

The agri-food system across Europe relies heavily on migrant labour. Border lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic immobilised thousands of foreign farmworkers, giving rise to fears of labour shortages and food production losses in EU countries. Farmers’ organisations sought institutional interventions to address this labour demand. Although migrant workers have become a fundamental component of core sectors in recent decades, it is only in the current health emergency that they were recognised as ‘essential’ workers. The chapter analyses the working conditions of migrant farmworkers alongside national debates and institutional interventions in Italy and Spain during the pandemic. It provides a critical comparative analysis of legal and policy interventions to address migrants’ situations of vulnerability. Both countries depend on important contingents of EU and non-EU migrant farmworkers, especially in fruit and vegetable production; moreover, they present common aspects in supply chain dynamics and labour market policies, but also specific differences in labour, migration and social policies. Both adopted measures to face the condition of irregularity of migrant workers in order to respond to labour demand in the agri-food sector and to provide these workers with safe working and living conditions during the pandemic. However, these interventions reveal shortcomings that significantly limit their impact and outcomes, calling into question to what extent migrant workers are really considered as ‘essential’ in a long-term perspective and, therefore, to what extent the current pandemic constitutes an opportunity for a new push to enforce labour and migrant rights

The vulnerability to exploitation of women migrant workers in agriculture in the EU The need for a human rights and gender based approach .Study

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, explores the working conditions of migrant women in agriculture in the EU, focusing on some case studies in Italy and Spain. In particular, it aims to examine the factors that render women vulnerable to exploitation, paying attention to gendered dynamics and power relations. The study contends that to prevent and combat exploitation in agriculture it is necessary to implement concerted actions aimed at tackling, from a human rights and gender perspective, the structural factors of a socio-economic system which fosters and relies on workers’ vulnerability

Tratta di esseri umani e sfruttamento lavorativo in agricoltura: Il caso dei «boschetari» nelle serre del Ragusano

Il saggio prende in esame la decisione del Giudice dell’Udienza Preliminare del Tribunale di Catania riguardante il caso dei "boschetti" nelle serre del ragusano, mettendo in luce la dimensione situazionale della situazione di vulnerabilità delle vittime di sfruttamento lavorativ

Sfruttamento lavorativo e vulnerabilità in un’ottica di genere. Le condizioni di vita e di lavoro delle lavoratrici migranti nelle serre del Ragusano

By focusing on the specific case of migrant women workers employed in the greenhouses of Ragusa, this article highlights the interplay of factors creating and exacerbating the situations of vulnerability of migrant women farmworkers to dynamics of exploitation. The article argues that looking at exploitation from a gender and intersectional perspective means going beyond the dichotomies (e.g. exploitation vs. consent) produced by legal and policy discourses and considering its systemic nature in a context marked by structural inequalities and injustices. Building on a theoretical framework attentive to the complexity of exploitation and the “situational” dimension of vulnerability, the article underlines how feminist analyses on the issue of social reproduction are fundamental to understanding forms of exploitation that are based on the specific situations of vulnerability in which women workers find themselves. The article concludes by stressing the need for legal and policy interventions which address exploitation in its systemic dimension, going beyond criminal law responses and putting the rights and needs of migrant women workers at the centre

Il diritto alla salute va garantito anche alle persone migranti nei centri di accoglienza. Riflessioni a margine di una storica ordinanza della Corte di Cassazione

This article examines a significant ruling of the Court of Cassation that reiterated how the fundamental right to health cannot undergo discrimination, marking a noteworthy development both for the recognition and protection of the rights of asylum seekers hosted in extraordinary reception centers (CAS), and, more generally, for the safeguarding of rights related to the basic needs of individuals