Young Invisible Enslaved: Children victims of trafficking and labour exploitation in Italy

The 2017 Young Invisible Enslaved Dossier highlights the cruel practices many unaccompanied children arriving in Italy are subject to at the hands of traffickers. Through the voices and stories told by boys and girls exploited sexually and through labour in Italy, the dossier presents a detailed investigation into the main vulnerabilities experienced by victims, and provides an up-to-date review of the criminals profiting from them.

The five-chapter report begins with a review of the international, European, and Italian legal framework on trafficking and serious exploitation. It then presents the updated profiles of trafficking and exploitation victims in Italy, highlighting the connections between recent migratory trends and the different types of exploitation suffered by minors. The vulnerability examined this year also provides an overview of the main criticalities detected in Ventimiglia, Rome, and Calabria territories. In these areas trafficking and exploitation is becoming alarming in regard to criminals, exploiters, and abusers who make a daily profit on girls and boys. The profiles of those who take advantage of the vulnerability of trafficked children every day have been examined to provide a comprehensive picture of the criminal chain, which will also be useful to develop a political and programmatic plan of action against this repulsive crime.