ROME,Italy-Thousands of Indian farm labourers in Italy are demanding an end to “slavery” following the tragic death of a worker that has highlighted the severe exploitation faced by undocumented migrants.<\/p>\n
Satnam Singh, 31, who worked without legal papers, died recently after his arm was severed by a machine. The farmer he worked for abandoned him on the roadside, along with his severed limb.<\/p>\n
“He was discarded like a dog. We face exploitation every day, and it must stop now,” said Gurmukh Singh, leader of the Indian community in Italy’s Lazio region.<\/p>\n
“We come here to work, not to die,” he told AFP news agency.<\/p>\n
Children held up colourful signs demanding “Justice for Satnam Singh” as a procession wound through Latina, a city in rural central Italy where tens of thousands of Indian migrant workers reside.<\/p>\n
Indians have been part of the Agro Pontino (Pontine Marshes) since the mid-1980s, harvesting crops like pumpkins, leeks, beans, and tomatoes, as well as working in flower farms and buffalo mozzarella production.<\/p>\n
Singh’s death is under investigation but has sparked broader discussions in Italy about addressing widespread abuses in the agricultural sector, including the exploitation of undocumented workers by farmers and labour contractors.<\/p>\n
“Satnam died in a day, but I die every day. I too am a victim of labour abuse,” said Parambar Singh, who suffered serious eye injuries in a workplace accident.<\/p>\n
“My employer said he couldn’t take me to the hospital because I didn’t have a contract,” said the 33-year-old, who has struggled to work since.<\/p>\n
“I have been waiting for justice for 10 months,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ROME,Italy-Thousands of Indian farm labourers in Italy are demanding an end to “slavery” following the tragic death of a worker that has highlighted the severe exploitation faced by undocumented migrants. Satnam Singh, 31, who worked without legal papers, died recently after his arm was severed by a machine. The farmer he worked for abandoned him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":""},"categories":[2399,2465],"tags":[57,202,8729,8730],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/indian.jpeg","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12366"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12368,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12366\/revisions\/12368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}