A/HRC/43/44/Add.6 as only five years ago. 19 In Apulia and Sicily, migrant labour is a flourishing business. According to labour unions, 300,000 irregular workers continue to generate billions of euros a year in profit for Italy’s agricultural sector.20 70. According to testimonies, a migrant worker can receive 2-3 euros per hour compared to Italy’s agricultural minimum wage, agreed by the industry, of 7 euros; some of them are paid by piecework, as their only pay, which is illegal in Italy; some are exposed to pesticides and dangerous chemicals; others face contract infringement or not contract at all, as well as terrible working and living conditions. The number of irregular seasonal workers doubles during the harvest season. Some of these migrant workers stated that without the support of organizations such as Caritas they would not be able to survive. 71. Although several laws and trade union contracts have been formulated to regulate the situation of agricultural workers, wages continue to be low (from 5 euro per hour to 50 euros per day for an average of a 6,5 hours workday, depending on the type of production). Furthermore, occupational health and safety for agricultural workers seem to be severely overlooked. According to testimonies, the number of maximum hours of work per day are often not respected; minimum wage is frequently not paid, even if agreed before the start of the harvest season; and living and working conditions are poor. This is particularly severe for migrant workers, especially if undocumented and without a valid permit, leaving them unable to report any abuse. 72. During harvest season, large groups of workers move from one part of the country to another to fill the market demand for labour. In particular, migrant workers, who are never provided with housing by their employers, need to arrange temporary towns, which are characterized by the absence of electricity, access to water and sanitation, safety and basic services. These towns occupy large portions of land, frequently remain standing for months (if not years) and continue to exist long after the harvest season is over. The products collected during the harvest season are sold in national, European and international markets. As reported by agricultural workers, it might happen that African families that provided funds to family members to allow them to travel to Italy to look for better job opportunities and living conditions are the same purchasing the expensive Italian agricultural products sold abroad and harvested by these exploited migrant workers. 73. In the agricultural sector, women migrant workers are often abused and frequently required by the “masters” to perform sexual acts to be able to improve their working and living conditions, such as better salaries and food. 74. Romanian and Bulgarian women have been identified as the main groups of agricultural workers, whose working, living and health conditions are particularly worrisome. According to official data, about 55,000 Bulgarians work in Italy, of whom 34,500 are women and 1.168.000 Romanians work in Italy, of whom over half (57%) are women, and 10% work in agriculture. They can work for up to 12-15 hours a day, and they live in isolated and shanty buildings, with no access to welfare or public services. Comments: What is the source used? INPS DB informs us that in 2017 in Italy 12.342 Bulgarians work in Italian agriculture; 5.529 of them are women. Romanian agricultural workers are 106.393, 39.399 of which are women. In 2018, in Italy 11.155 Bulgarians work in Italian agriculture; 5.061of them are women. Romanians agricultural workers are 103.497, 38320 of which are women. 75. In 2017, several arrests were made among farm owners in the South, when the appalling living conditions of Romanian women workers were discovered and cases of sexual 19 20 12 Openpolis foundation and NGO ActionAid, 4 November 2019; Amnesty International, Report on Irregular Migration, 24 January 2019. ICRC, Universal Periodic Review (UPR), NGO Alternative Report (34th Session October-November 2019), 27 March 2019, page 4-5. Available at: https://www.ihrc.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2019/03/UPR19marc-italy-finalfinal.pdf .