The government decreased anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. Article 601 of the penal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of eight to 20 years’ imprisonment, which increased by one third to one half if the crime involved a child victim. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. Authorities utilized additional penal code provisions to prosecute trafficking crimes. Article 600 criminalized placing or holding a person in conditions of slavery or servitude, and Article 602 criminalized the sale and purchase of slaves – both prescribed the same penalties as Article 601. In addition, Article 600-bis criminalized offenses relating to child sex trafficking and prescribed punishments of six to 12 years’ imprisonment and a fine.
The government did not disaggregate between sex and labor trafficking for investigations, prosecutions, or convictions pursued under Articles 600, 601, or 602. In 2022 – the most recent year for which the government had comprehensive statistics – the government reported initiating 184 investigations under Articles 600, 601, and 602; this was a decrease compared with 214 in 2021, 254 in 2020, and 323 in 2019, demonstrating a four-year downward trend. The government prosecuted 95 suspects under Articles 600, 601, and 602, a decrease compared with 121 in 2021, 106 in 2020, and 202 in 2019, also indicating an overall downward trend. In 2022, courts convicted 66 traffickers under Articles 600, 601, and 602, a decrease compared with 81 convictions in 2021 and 80 in 2020. Appellate courts upheld the convictions or overturned previous acquittals of 89 traffickers under Articles 600, 601, and 602. While the government did not report comprehensive sentencing data in a format that allowed for an assessment of significant sentencing, it reported the average sentence for traffickers convicted under Article 601 was 9.6 years in 2022, compared with 9.1 years reported in 2021. The government reported 79 final, unappealable sentences issued in 2022 for Articles 600, 601, and 602 (68 in 2021 and 33 in 2020). Of these final sentences, the minimum term of imprisonment issued was 18 months; two sentences were suspended. The government confirmed at least 51 percent of convicted traffickers in 2022 received sentences of one year or longer in prison. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes.
The District Anti-Mafia Directorates handled trafficking prosecutions in coordination with the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate; the state police, the financial police, and the Carabinieri (gendarmerie) conducted investigations under the supervision of the relevant public prosecutor’s office; non-specialized investigators referred cases with clear evidence of trafficking to an anti-mafia unit. However, in its 2024 report, GRETA expressed concern authorities often categorized human trafficking as other crimes with a lower burden of proof – such as labor code violations, illicit labor recruitment and brokering, labor exploitation (caporolato), commercial sex, and facilitation of irregular migration – which weakened deterrence, as penalties for these crimes were lower than the penalties for trafficking. Prosecutors and judges often applied a narrow definition of human trafficking and frequently believed the involvement of an organized criminal network or an international border crossing were necessary elements of human trafficking and, therefore, did not pursue cases as trafficking without these elements present. Courts often classified trafficking as another crime if the victim initially consented to a situation that resulted in exploitation, and GRETA urged the government to specify in law the irrelevance of initial victim consent. Non-specialized prosecutors sometimes charged suspects with crimes other than trafficking rather than referring the case to an anti-mafia unit to prevent delays in prosecution and victim assistance, as the specialized units would have to relaunch the investigation and consequently extend the timeframe for prosecution and trial. GRETA urged the government to increase specialized anti-trafficking training for investigators, prosecutors, and judges. Insufficient resources resulted in anti-mafia units prioritizing investigations involving criminal networks over cases involving an individual trafficker. Lack of a sufficient number of interpreters, especially for West African dialects, continued to hinder law enforcement investigations, as well as diminish the benefits of investigators’ wiretapping capability. Italian prosecutors and police continued to cite insufficient cooperation in investigations from officials in source and transit countries; with many transnational cases, this hindered prosecutions and convictions. Slow criminal justice proceedings continued to hamper prosecutions and convictions.
Law enforcement agencies received training on victim identification and investigation of trafficking crimes from their standard curriculum. In partnership with a government-funded international organization, the government reported training law enforcement officials, immigration and international protection officials, labor inspectors, prosecutors, judges, and anti-trafficking NGOs on a variety of topics including a multidisciplinary approach, immigration protections, and victims’ rights. Italian law enforcement cooperated on international trafficking investigations in 2023 that resulted in the identification of at least 302 victims and the arrest of at least 587 suspected traffickers across all countries participating in joint operations. The government continued to provide funding to an international organization for an anti-trafficking project across Africa, part of which focused on improving international judicial cooperation between Italy and Nigeria; Italian law enforcement continued to cooperate and liaise with Nigerian counterparts. In October 2023, anti-mafia and counterterrorism prosecutors established a working group on migrant smuggling and human trafficking, which included magistrates and district prosecutors, to develop a uniform investigative protocol to be used in all cases of migrant arrivals by sea or land; however, no further information on progress was available.
from 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report – U.S. Department of State
2024 Trafficking in Persons Report – United States Department of State
