The italian government increased victim protection efforts.
The government identified 540 new trafficking victims in 2023, compared with 576 in 2022. The government reported, of the 540 victims identified, traffickers exploited 255 in sex trafficking and 257 in labor trafficking, including 19 in forced criminality, two in forced begging, and 12 in domestic servitude. Traffickers exploited 28 victims abroad or in transit to Italy. The government also identified 192 potential victims at migration centers whom the government believed were at risk to become trafficking victims but had not yet been exploited in Italy. The government focused its victim identification efforts on migrants and asylum-seekers arriving at designated points of entry and reception centers. Identification of Italian trafficking victims remained extremely rare, and, in 2023, the government identified only four Italian victims of “enslavement” (two in 2022). The government identified very few children (less than 2 percent of victims identified), despite a previous NGO estimate that about 33 percent of trafficking victims were children. Considering the continued gaps in victim identification, some experts raised concerns the number of victims identified did not represent the true scale of trafficking in Italy. The government reported observing standard UNHCR procedures to screen for trafficking victims among asylum-seekers, unaccompanied children, and undocumented migrants arriving by sea. Civil society coordinated with law enforcement and immigration officials at arrival points and long-term reception centers to screen for trafficking indicators; officials had access to updated guidelines for victim identification. Anti-trafficking civil society organizations (CSOs) did not have access to most migration centers; civil society recommended MOUs with the government to ensure consistent access to the centers and improve proactive identification of trafficking victims. Local committees continued to utilize national guidelines for asylum-seekers to adjudicate asylum applications to identify trafficking victims among applicants; however, implementation of the guidelines remained inconsistent.
Preliminary identification of trafficking victims could be completed by a wide variety of front-line officials, including CSOs, but only law enforcement or a government authority or CSO implementing a project under the “Single Program of emergence, assistance, and social integration” (Single Program) could formally identify trafficking victims. The government adopted a new NRM in 2023, which included specific protocols for children; however, NGOs and GRETA continued to note it was not fully implemented throughout Italy, and experts expressed concern the NRM only focused on foreign nationals without recognizing Italian victims. In 2024, in compliance with the NAP and NRM, four newly established working groups facilitated the adoption of victim referral SOPs to multiple agencies. The government also maintained a detailed national operational protocol (the Vademecum) for the identification and referral to assistance of migrants, as well as a separate identification protocol specifically for labor trafficking and exploitation in agriculture. In addition, the government had a victim identification and referral mechanism for some forms of child trafficking and children in the asylum system. Local authorities and private stakeholders had 34 trafficking victim referral procedure MOUs throughout Italy, including three new agreements signed in 2024.
The government provided victim assistance through its national anti-trafficking network, or the Single Program, implemented by regional and local authorities and CSOs through 21 projects, covering the entire country. The government did not require victims to interact with law enforcement to receive services through the Single Program, but victims were required to participate in the program in order to obtain benefits, such as shelter, legal assistance, medical care, cultural mediation, psychological care, employment training, work permits, language training, and residence permits. The government allocated €28.8 million ($30 million) to projects under the Single Program throughout Italy from March 2024 through August 2025, an increase of €1.6 million ($1.66 million) for the previous 17-month period. In March 2025, the government issued a decree that elevated the DEO’s trafficking unit into a separate Department with provisions for increased staffing. In 2023, through the Single Program, the government and government-funded CSOs assisted 1,368 trafficking victims. Of the 1,368 trafficking victims, traffickers exploited 750 in sex trafficking and 568 in labor trafficking (including 499 forced labor, 31 forced criminality, 15 forced begging, and 23 domestic servitude); traffickers exploited 50 victims abroad or in transit to Italy. This was an increase compared with 1,325 trafficking victims assisted in 2022. The government also assisted seven witnesses and 457 potential victims at migration centers whom the government believed were at risk to become trafficking victims but had not yet been exploited in Italy.
The law allowed for an initial three to six months of government assistance to all trafficking victims. After initial assistance, foreign victims were eligible to obtain temporary residency and work permits and had a path to permanent residency. In addition, foreign victims were eligible for six months of shelter benefits, renewable for an additional six months only if the victim obtained a job or enrolled in a training program. February 2025 updates to legislative decree 286/98 provided issuance of six-month residence permits, with extensions to one year or longer, for victims of exploitation, including trafficking, and had a path to permanent residency. In 2024, the government passed Legislative Decree 145/2024, which the government reported provided a training pathway for exploited foreign workers who chose to cooperate with law enforcement. The government reported implementing a de facto 30-day recovery and reflection period available to victims through the Single Program but the reflection period was not codified in law. In its 2024 report, GRETA expressed concern residence permits, which were required to access many services, sometimes took more than a year to obtain and occasionally required cooperation or interaction with law enforcement. Through the projects implemented under the Single Program, the government provided several forms of shelter, including emergency reception, and first and second reception. Most, but not all, shelter options provided specific accommodation for either men or women. The emergency and first reception included emergency shelters and protected apartments, while second reception included semi-independent living arrangements. However, the government at times placed trafficking victims in reception centers in the Reception and Integration network, which lacked adequate security; and reports indicate some traffickers sought to recruit or remove victims from these centers. Foreign unaccompanied child victims automatically received a residence permit until age 18 and accommodations in a general children’s center or a designated center for trafficking victims who were also asylum-seekers. Children could receive counseling and were enrolled in public schools. Assistance for trafficking victims with special needs, men, and unaccompanied children was sometimes insufficient. The law entitled children to be interviewed in appropriate venues by specialized experts and entitled victims to interpreters, which most victims reported receiving, in all interviews and criminal proceedings.
The law entitled victims to free legal assistance, contingent on a lack of sufficient financial resources, and guaranteed legal assistance for child victims. However, in its 2024 report, GRETA reported it was difficult for victims to prove insufficient financial resources and noted many lawyers were not sensitized to trafficking. Victims could receive assistance from and be accompanied by cultural mediators for all interviews and criminal proceedings. Organizations implementing the Single Program provided psychological assistance to trafficking victims. The law entitled all victims to be informed of their rights, and courts could allow victims to remain anonymous during trial. In its 2024 report, GRETA noted most victims received information on their rights from CSOs implementing the Single Program rather than from law enforcement. Victim testimony could be recorded in a pre-trial setting in front of the defendant’s lawyer so victims were not required to appear in court, and pre-recording was a requirement for child victims.
Italian criminal law provided judges and courts with discretion to not file non-immigration criminal charges, which protected trafficking victims from inappropriate penalization for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. However, the law’s requirement of proof that the unlawful act was committed solely as a result of being trafficked, predominantly via the conviction of the trafficker, left victims and potential victims at risk of prosecution and conviction when a court did not first convict the perpetrators. Civil society and experts continued to report trafficking victims that officials did not formally recognize as trafficking victims were sometimes prosecuted for and convicted of drug trafficking, possession of a false identity document, or immigration-related offenses. In its 2024 report, GRETA and other experts urged the government to adopt a legal provision explicitly preventing inappropriate penalization of victims for unlawful acts committed solely as a result of being trafficked.
The government continued to lack comprehensive statistics on restitution and compensation awarded to victims and did not allow prosecutors to request restitution during criminal trials. The government could offer a single payment of €1,500 ($1,560) to victims for compensation, although GRETA and NGOs noted the process to claim compensation was overly complex and no victims had ever received it. Restitution could not be decided in criminal court, but rather through a separate civil suit; it remained rare and difficult to obtain and often took several years for courts to make a final decision. If prosecutors did not request a “precautionary seizure” during the criminal trial, then all assets seized from the convicted trafficker were awarded to the government rather than the victim through the separate civil suit.
Preliminary identification of trafficking victims could be completed by a wide variety of front-line officials, including civil society organizations (CSOs), but formal victim identification could only be completed by law enforcement or any of the government authorities or CSOs implementing one of the projects under the “Single Program of emergence, assistance, and social integration” (Single Program). The government provided assistance to trafficking victims through its national anti-trafficking network or the Single Program implemented by regional and local authorities and CSOs through 21 projects, covering the entire country. The government did not require victims to interact with law enforcement to gain access to the Single Program, but victims were required to participate in the program in order to obtain benefits such as shelter, legal assistance, medical care, cultural mediation, psychological care, employment training, work permits, language training, and a residence permits. The government funded a new round of assistance projects for the Single Program, from March 2024 through August 2025, and allocated €28.8 million ($31.82 million) for their implementation by regional and local authorities and selected CSOs across Italy. Previously, the government allocated €27.2 million ($30.06 million) to these projects from October 2022 until March 2024 and €24 million ($26.52 million) from July 2021 to October 2022. NGOs reported high standards of assistance projects across regions but noted the quality of assistance sometimes varied. NGOs reported quality standards for victim assistance was lower in the south. NGOs reported the Department of Equal Opportunity (DEO), which coordinated protection efforts, was not sufficiently funded or staffed to consistently monitor assistance projects; to assist the DEO, the government maintained a technical committee to help monitor the projects. In 2022, through the Single Program, the government and government-funded CSOs assisted 808 new trafficking victims and 517 victims from prior years, totaling 1,325 trafficking victims assisted. Of the 1,325 trafficking victims, traffickers exploited 815 in sex trafficking and 472 in labor trafficking (including 427 forced labor, 19 forced criminality, 17 forced begging, and nine domestic servitude); traffickers exploited 38 victims abroad or in transit to Italy. This was similar to 1,369 trafficking victims assisted in 2021 and 1,456 in 2020. The number of labor trafficking victims identified and assisted increased in recent years. The government also assisted 10 witnesses and 433 potential victims at migration centers whom the government believed were likely to become trafficking victims but had not yet been exploited in Italy.
Using a multidisciplinary approach in partnership with civil society, the Anti-Trafficking Technical Committee drafted and adopted a new NRM in December 2023, which addressed all forms of trafficking and included specific protocols for children. However, NGOs and GRETA continued to note it was implemented unevenly throughout Italy, and experts expressed concern the NRM only focused on foreign nationals without recognizing Italian victims. In partnership with civil society in June 2023, the government also adopted a detailed national operational protocol (the Vademecum) for the identification and referral to assistance of vulnerable migrants and implemented it at ports of entry and migrant reception centers. The government also had an NRM specifically for labor trafficking and exploitation in agriculture, which included minimum standards, standard procedures, and available assistance for victims. In addition, the government had a victim identification and referral mechanism for some forms of child trafficking and children in the asylum system and children were also included in the new NRM.
The government reported observing standard UNHCR procedures to screen for trafficking victims among the approximately 157,651 asylum-seekers, unaccompanied children, and undocumented migrants that arrived by sea in 2023. In coordination with the government in December 2023, UNHCR released updated guidelines for the identification of trafficking victims among asylum-seekers. Civil society coordinated with law enforcement and immigration officials at arrival points and long-term reception centers, and an international organization reported providing information on potential trafficking victims to local officials responsible for assigning migrants to migration centers and trafficking victims to shelters. However, NGOs, citing unstructured identification mechanisms in migrant centers, continued to claim authorities were unable to properly screen and identify many trafficking victims upon arrival, potentially leaving some victims unidentified in migration centers and classifying them instead as asylum-seekers or undocumented migrants and therefore subject to detention and then deportation. Anti-trafficking CSOs did not have access to most migration centers, and GRETA urged the government to allow this access to ensure the proactive identification of trafficking victims. Local committees continued to utilize national guidelines for asylum-seekers to adjudicate asylum applications to identify trafficking victims among applicants; however, inconsistencies in implementation persisted.
The law allowed for an initial three to six months of government assistance to all trafficking victims. After initial assistance, foreign victims were eligible to obtain temporary residency and work permits and had a path to permanent residency; in addition, foreign victims were eligible for six months of shelter benefits, renewable for an additional six months only if the victim obtained a job or enrolled in a training program. The government reported implementing a de facto 30-day recovery and reflection period available to victims through the Single Program. GRETA urged the government to codify the 30-day recovery and reflection period into law and ensure all trafficking victims systematically received this entitlement regardless of their participation in criminal proceedings. In its 2024 report, GRETA expressed concern residence permits sometimes took more than a year to obtain, occasionally required participation with law enforcement, and the number of residence permits issued for trafficking was low compared with the number of victims assisted. Residence permits were required to access many services, including work permit, and GRETA urged the government to extend the right to work prior to receiving residence permits. Through the projects implemented under the Single Program, the government provided several forms of shelter, including emergency reception, first reception, and second reception; most, but not all, shelter options were gender-specific. The emergency and first reception included emergency shelters and protected apartments, while second reception included semi-autonomous living arrangements. However, in some cases, often due to insufficient space, the government housed victims and potential victims with undocumented migrants in reception centers in the Reception and Integration network; such housing lacked adequate security, and traffickers may have sought to recruit or remove victims from these centers. Foreign unaccompanied child victims automatically received a residence permit until age 18 and accommodations in a general children’s center or a designated center for trafficking victims who were also asylum-seekers. Children could receive counseling and were enrolled in public schools with the support of voluntary guardians. Assistance for trafficking victims with special needs and unaccompanied children was sometimes insufficient. The law entitled children to be interviewed in appropriate venues by specialized experts. Article 143-bis entitled victims to interpreters, which most victims reported receiving, in all interviews and criminal proceedings. However, insufficient availability of interpretation services for lesser known African dialects, with victims coming from as many as 15 different language groups, remained a significant challenge. Trustworthy interpreters were also difficult to secure because reportedly many interpreters came from the same communities as accused traffickers.
The law entitled victims to free legal assistance, contingent on a lack of sufficient financial resources, and guaranteed legal assistance for child victims. However, in its 2024 report, GRETA reported it was difficult for victims to prove insufficient financial resources and noted many lawyers were not sensitized to trafficking; GRETA urged the government to ensure all trafficking victims received free legal assistance as early as possible by specialized lawyers. Victims could receive assistance from and be accompanied by cultural medicators for all interviews and criminal proceedings. Organizations implementing the Single Program provided psychological assistance to trafficking victims, but GRETA noted victims accommodated in facilities for asylum-seekers and beneficiaries of international protection did not have sufficient access to psychologists. The law entitled all victims to be informed of their rights, and courts could allow victims to remain anonymous during trial. In its 2024 report, GRETA noted most victims received information on their rights from CSOs implementing the Single Program rather than from law enforcement. Victim testimony could be recorded in a pre-trial setting in front of the defendant’s lawyer so victims were not required to appear in court, which was a requirement for children; GRETA reported if specialized prosecutors were involved, this protection happened more frequently for adult victims.
Italian criminal law lacked a provision specifically prohibiting inappropriate penalization of trafficking victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked; while Articles 45 and 56 gave prosecutors and judges discretion on prosecution based on the principle of the “state of necessity”, these articles did not apply to immigration-related offenses. Current law required proof that the unlawful act was committed solely as a result of being trafficked, usually via the conviction of the trafficker, which left victims and potential victims at risk of prosecution and conviction when a court did not first convict the perpetrators. Although Italy’s highest penal court upheld the principle of non-punishment of trafficking victims in a 2023 ruling and two separate rulings in prior reporting periods, in some cases, courts convicted trafficking victims of crimes before they could be identified. The 2023 NRM urged officials not to penalize victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. However, civil society and experts continued to report trafficking victims – either because they were not officially recognized as such or because they could not prove their exploitation in criminal proceedings – were prosecuted for and convicted of drug trafficking, possession of a false identity document, or immigration-related offences. Civil society and experts claimed the government denied international protection status and potentially deported trafficking victims who were convicted of crimes they were forced to commit solely as a direct result of being trafficked. In its 2019 and 2024 reports, GRETA and other experts urged the government to adopt a legal provision explicitly preventing inappropriate penalization of victims for unlawful acts committed solely as a result of being trafficked; however, the Ministry of Justice stated it did not have plans to do so.
The government continued to lack comprehensive statistics on restitution and compensation awarded to victims and did not allow prosecutors to request restitution during criminal trials. The government could offer a single payment of €1,500 ($1,650) to victims for compensation, although GRETA and NGOs noted the process to claim it is overly complex, the amount is insufficient, and no victims had ever received it. In its 2024 report, GRETA urged the government to uniformly inform victims of their right to compensation, expand victims’ effective access to compensation, and consider increasing the maximum amount granted to victims. Restitution could not be decided in criminal court, but rather through a separate civil suit; it remained rare and difficult to obtain; and often took several years for courts to make a final decision. If prosecutors did not request a “precautionary seizure” during the criminal trial, then all assets seized from the convicted trafficker were awarded to the government rather than the victim through the separate civil suit. GRETA urged the government to allow courts to award restitution from convicted traffickers during the criminal trial rather than through a separate civil suit. In its 2019 and 2024 reports, GRETA continued recommending the government increase the use of existing legal remedies to provide restitution to victims and more proactively seize assets and pursue forfeiture against perpetrators. The government did not award restitution from criminal cases to any trafficking victims.
from 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report – U.S. Department of State
2025 Trafficking in Persons Report – United States Department of State
