Romania Accused of Inaction Over ‘Slavery’ in Italy
After the latest UK media exposure of the slave-like conditions endured by Romanian migrant workers in Sicily, the government has been accused of making an inadequate response.
Ana Maria Touma
BIRN Bucharest
Journalists and NGO workers say that modern slavery and ill treatment of migrant agriculture workers is not a noverlty in Italy's Sicily, and Romanians are most vulnerable to abuse because they come from very poor areas of Romania, where living conditions are also degrading. Photo: SarahTz/Flickr.
They are kept in isolated areas, have no contact with either the authorities or fellow Romanians and are not allowed to communicate with the families. They work 12 to 14-hour days in scorching heat and sleep in shacks. Often, the women are forced to have sex with the farm owners.
The grim conditions experienced by many Romanian migrant workers in Sicily are well known to both the Italian and Romanian governments, and have been for years, but a recent investigation into these abuses published by UK Observer and Guardian newspapers last week has stirred controversy in Bucharest.
Within two days of the article’s publication, Minister for Romanians Abroad Andreea Pastirnac and a delegation of Romanian officials set out for Sicily to meet the local administration and assess the situation at the request of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu.
www.fotavgeia.blogspot.com
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου