This law radically changes the definition of enslavement/subjugation and it adopts a similar definition of the concept: slavery bondage.
This law will be broadly applied especially when sanctioning some exploiting behaviours such as prostitution, mendicity or work conditions (when workers are completely subjugated to their employers). This new law also changes criminal code and it introduces specific measures which should repress these quoted exploiting behaviours.
We shall summerize the law main istances.
Law n. 228 against human beings trade changes criminal code art. 600, entitled “Reducing to slavery”, which provided for a five to 15 years detention
The law text is now completely changed and more specific (this is important because it sanctions behaviours which weren’t before considered).
Art. 600 – Reducing to slavery or keeping people enslaved
Anyone exercising sovereignty over someone, and this clearly means anyone reducing or keeping someone under enslavement, is punished by an eight to twenty-year detention. Exercising sovereignty means forcing someone to prestitution, mendicity or labour exploitation.
Enslavement occurs when someone threatens, cheats, abuses, takes advantage of other human beings who are in need, who are bodily or psycologically disable.
Sanctions are doubled in case underage children are exploited, in case of prostitution or organs drawings.”
The same title tries to distinguish between reducing someone to slavery or keeping someone under such conditions, and the differences are strictly considered.
The law originally only considered the concept of reducing someone to slavery whereas today the new concept of keeping people enslaved which refers to behaviours that do not necessarily imply a 24 hours enslavement, it refers to the fact that they produce enslavement conditions such as prostitution, mendicity or specific labour performances.
Threats, violence or deception depict the quoted behaviour according to the new law.
The new law expressly considers both the situations: when a person is violently forced or threatened to some performances and abuse of powers.
Example – Exploitation occurs when an employer takes advantage of an employee who is in state of need, such as clandestines who cannot ask anyone for help and must accept all work and living conditions.
The new law also considers situations of abuse against people who are disabled or underage.
Reducing to slavery also is promising money or advantages in exchange for labour or sexual performances.
Example – promising money or advantages to parents in care of underage children. This doesn’t only mean selling underage children but also taking advantage of them, paying parents in order to have them exploited.
Criminal code articles 601 and 602 were changed as well.
Art. 601 defines the traffic in human beings while art. 602 defines the buying or the alienation of slaves.
Art. 601 – Traffic in human beings
Anyone committing himself/herself in human beings trade is to be punished under art. 600 conditions, this is to say:
the quoted fact occurs when someone threatens, cheats, abuses, takes advantage of other human beings who are in need, who are bodily or psycologically disable in order to have them entry or leave the State territory.
This person is punished by an eight to twenty-year detention.
Sanctions are doubled in case underage children are exploited, in case of prostitution or organs drawings.”
In all the quoted cases the behaviour of the ones forcing someone to entry, stay or leave the State territory under stated enslaving expectations is sanctioned (punishment is determined by art. 600).
Art. 602 – Buying and alienating slaves
Anyone buying or alienationg other human beings, and is comes apart from art. 601 cases, whose conditions are referred to in art. 600, is punished by an eight to twenty-year detention.
Sanctions are doubled in case underage children are exploited, in case of prostitution or organs drawings.”
As already stated the former art. 600 wording provided for a much more generic formulation of the crime according to which anyone having behaved in order to enslave someone else was punished.
There were many interpretation problems though because defining a condition similar to enslavement wasn’t always easy. The classical concept of slavery has changed indeed. We won’t anymore see (at least here in Italy) someone detaining and treating others as goods, using them as they please.
Pressures, subjection, threats, violence, abuse, deceit are usually oriented towards one’s own economical and financial benefit. These behaviour are to be considered enslaving people.
Law tried – until new law enactment – to define behaviours similar to enslavement. Law often referred to the Supplementary convention on slavery – Geneva September 7 1956 as ratified and enacted in Italy in 1957 (law n. 1304).
The convention studies a series of behaviours which are to be considered similar to slavery such as enslaving someone because of debts, enslaving someone to field work, selling or promising women in bride against their will. But also selling or exploting underages is to be considered slavery. This unfortunately wasn’t enough in order to define and sanction behaviours that are to be identified as reducing someone to new forms of enslavement.
The new art. 600 satisfies all needs since the main principle of law is that rules are peremptory. A person can only be sentenced on basis of facts that are expressly provided for by crimal code rules; noone can be sentenced because of similar to the stated by law crimes.
Now art. 600 gives a more detailed list of behaviours that are to be punished. Enslavement and servitude are still differently considered but this has no great practical importance.
The strict definition of slavery provides for that a person is punished when exercising property behaviours on someone else. Reducing to slavery is now ruled by law and a number of activities continously subjecting others are studied. These behaviours can be legally punished when acted with threatens, cheats, abuses, advantage of other human beings who are in need, who are bodily or psycologically disable or in case underage children are exploited, in case of prostitution or organs drawings. Any of such behaviours make sanctions possible according to law.
Subjection must be continuous, habitual not a single episode. Treating a person as ggods which we are owner of is to be considered the same. This kind of crime is necessarily permanent and it introduces important consequences from a legal point of view. In case the crime started abroad, it is for sured to be punished in Italy according to criminal code article 600.
Changes to criminal code art. 600 introduced a very important piece of news: keeping someone under subjection is sanctionable. In fact art. 600 used to only take under consideration cases of someone losing his/her own freedom and then being enslaved while today a person who already is subjected to someone and is treatde the same by others is now studied and ruled.
These law definitions are very important, for instance parents forcing their children to mendicity or selling them to athers are considered guilty of enslaving attitude. And this is to be considered the same as reducing someone to slavery or servitude. Other hypotesis are today ruled: buying or selling underage children, relatives selling women after having (both physically and psycologically) subjected her. We are not saying that magistrates have never treated such matters but that today they are finally ruled upon.
Employers subjecting clandestines to work are to be considered the same as quoted above, the new formulation of the law states.We everyday read of clandestines caged inside their workplace, obliged to pay their entrance and accomodation in Italy via working for free. Laboratories where clandestines full time work are quite a typical example.
Law provides for that those crime typologies can be inquired into also via using agent provocateur or feigned accomplice. This was only used to contrats mafia and it is now enlarged to human beings trade.
Witnesses protection was also implemented. Trials can now be faced with less intimidation problems or threatens by interested people.
Law also provides for the institution of a fund that should help human trade victims, this fund should help social and re-integration services as provided for by the law we are actually studying and by consolidated act art. 18. Art. 18 provides for the opening of a fund that should help prostitution victims, now this fund is being enlarged to traders victims. The fund should be financed by confiscated by sentences goods.
Anyway it seems that law experts haven’t provided for a real way of increasing the fund, consolidated act art. 18 states that 10 billions former lira are to be used in such sense and other money should come from confiscation. We well know how long it takes to get in hold of confiscated properties!
Purpuses increase, money stay the same.
We hope that it will be clear that in order to increase reports of crimes and integration more money should be spent in services and structures.
Art. 600 changes will modify the way underages coming to Italy alone are treated in fact they are the most exploited.