The statement was made on the occasion of the International Day against Trafficking in Human Beings
Amid tensions over the migration crisis in Italy, President Sergio Mattarella said on Monday (30) that the mass arrival of immigrants is fertile ground “for new forms of slavery”.
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The statement was made on the occasion of the International Day against Trafficking in Human Beings, a phenomenon that has become part of the Italian reality with the endless “death journeys” that take refugees and forced migrants on overcrowded boats across the Mediterranean.
“Slavery represented one of humanity’s greatest shames. Today, World Human Trafficking Day, requires us to reiterate the international community's condemnation and battle against any form of slavery, old and new,” said Mattarella.
The president cited data from the International Labor Organization (ILO) that show that there are around 40 million slaves in the world, with 25 million subjected to forced labor, and 15 million to forms of forced marriage.
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“These are the degeneration of our society, plagues to be firmly eradicated and that call us to a moral reaction, an adequate response and greater cultural and civil commitment. A fertile ground for these new forms of slavery is the migratory phenomenon,” she added.
According to Mattarella, every day “thousands of people risk their lives and those of their loved ones at sea and on land, in desperate conditions”. “It is a tragedy born of wars, poverty, the instability of precarious development, fueled by ignoble human traffickers”, she highlighted, demanding cooperation to combat this phenomenon.
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