Italian Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio shared figures showing progress in the fight against migrant trafficking while speaking at a commemoration ceremony for the twenty-year anniversary of the UN Palermo Convention (the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime) on September 29.

In the two-year period from 2021 to 2022, District Directorates reported 166 new human trafficking-related procedures featuring an extremely high number of people under investigation (468).

A total of 26 new criminal conspiracy proceedings aimed at migrant trafficking were reported, with a total of 92 persons under investigation.

Over the course of the last reference year (2022) at the Palermo Antimafia District Attorney's Office, the number of penal justice proceedings against criminal organizations for the crime of trafficking and clandestine migration jumped 171%.

"Full-on and global fight against human traffickers"

"We must carry out a full-on and global war against human traffickers. The increase in the number of migrant arrivals obliges us to make some serious consideration", noted Minister Nordio.

"The fight against migrant trafficking and human trafficking is an obligation for all of us who have signed the UN Palermo Convention: implementing the Convention is also a way to protect human rights. The protection of human rights of the citizens of our nations also means to go after and make conduct that undermines these rights a legal crime", he added.