According to official statistics, around 2.4 million migrants work in fruit and vegetable harvesting in EU territories, but in reality they could be many more, researchers from the University Institute of Migration Studies (IUEM) of the Comillas Pontifical University and Oxfam Intermon said.
In their report, entitled ‘Essential but invisible and exploited,’ the analysts claim that migrants ‘have become a structural element of the agri-food chain, and that means that the abuses they suffer are equally structural.’
Researcher Carlos Ruiz, from Oxfam Intermon, and co-author of the document, explained that in the nine countries studied, with the exception of Finland, migrants are paid less than the minimum wage and women tend to receive the lowest pay.
Despite the structural role they play in sustaining European agri-food production, they are a group systematically subjected to a logic of exploitation, expert Yoan Molinero, from IUEM-Comillas, summarized.
Cases of abuse, including sexual abuse, intimidation and violence in response to strikes are common in the EU agri-food sector, the research concluded.
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