An IOM team completed yesterday a 10-day assessment mission in San
Nicola Varco, a town some one hundred kilometres south of Naples,
where up to a thousand irregular migrants have taken over abandoned
structures, eking out a living amid piles of rubbish, without
running water or electricity.

The migrants, all young men from Morocco employed without a work
contract as seasonal workers in the agricultural sector, say they
are being exploited by unscrupulous employers who pay them between
15 and 25 euros a day to work in the nearby greenhouses and
fields. 

Speaking to IOM, many migrants said they have to pay employers
for services such as water and 3 euros each time they go from the
encampment to the fields, where they toil from 4:30 am till 4:00
pm.    

"We've been asked by the local authorities and by the Italian
Ministry of Interior to carry out an assessment in the area in
order to identify solutions for these desperate migrants," says
Peter Schatzer, IOM‘s Chief of Mission in Italy. "Their
living and working conditions are unsafe, insalubrious and
undignified."

On Sunday night, a fire broke out in the encampment, causing
some damage but no injuries to the migrants.

"Our team discovered that most of the migrants have fallen
victim to a fraud," says IOM's Peter Schatzer. "All came to Italy
through the seasonal quota system established every year by the
Italian government. They paid a fee to a rogue agent in their
country of origin and to an Italian employer, who promised to give
them a regular job. Once in Italy, the migrants found that their
employer had disappeared or just refused to employ them. Without a
legal work permit, many fell into exploitation."

The IOM team of 4 legal officers and 2 cultural mediators
interviewed more than 200 migrants and IOM is now working with the
relevant authorities in Italy and Morocco to address their many
needs. 

"We are working with our Italian counterparts to see if the
migrants could benefit from assistance and protection in Italy,"
says Peter Schatzer. "IOM could also provide support for those who
wish to go home through IOM's assisted voluntary return
programme." 

Illegal labour, especially in the agricultural sector is a
widespread phenomenon in Italy, with official statistics showing
that it accounts for between 15.9 per cent and 17.6 per cent of the
country's gross domestic product.

For further information, please contact:

Flavio Di Giacomo

IOM Rome

Tel: + 39 06 44 186 207

E-mail: "mailto:fdigiacomo@iom.int">fdigiacomo@iom.int