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African migrant workers harvest tomatoes in farmlands in Puglia. Analysts said the risk of labour exploitation is likely to worsen in Italy over the next year, with agriculture a key sector of concern. Photograph: ROPI/Alamy

The migrant crisis has increased the risk of slavery and forced labour tainting supply chains in three-quarters of EU countries over the past year, researchers have found.

Romania, Italy, Cyprus and Bulgaria all key entry points into Europe for migrants vulnerable to exploitation were identified by risk analysts as particularly vulnerable to slavery and forced labour.

The annual modern slavery index, produced by Verisk Maplecroft, assessed the conditions that make labour exploitation more likely. Areas covered by the index include national legal frameworks and the severity, and frequency, of violations.

Countries outside Europe, such as North Korea and South Sudan, were judged to be at the greatest risk of modern slavery, but the researchers said the EU showed the largest increase in risk of any region over the past year.

In the past, the slavery story has been in supply chains in countries far away, like Thailand and Bangladesh, said Dr Alexandra Channer, a human rights analyst at Verisk Maplecroft. But it is now far closer to home and it is something that consumers, governments and businesses in the EU have to look out for. With the arrival of migrants, who are often trapped in modern slavery before they enter the workplace, the vulnerable population is expanding.

The International Labour Organisation estimates that 21 million people worldwide are subject to some form of slavery.

The biggest global increase in the risk of slavery was in Romania, which rose 56 places in the index and is the only EU country classified as high risk.

Turkey came a close second, moving up 52 places, from medium risk to high risk. The influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing war, combined with Turkeys restrictive work permit system, has led to thousands of refugees becoming part of an informal workforce, said the study.

The government, which is focused on political crackdown, does not prioritise labour violations, further adding to the risk. Over the past year, several large brands from Turkish textile factories have been associated with child labour and slavery.

The picture in Romania is more complex, researchers said. The countrys high risk category reflects more severe and frequent instances of modern slavery, but also reflects a greater number of criminal investigations in Romania, usually in collaboration with EU enforcement authorities.

Both Romania and Italy, which rose 17 places, have the worst reported violations in the EU, including severe forms of forced labour such as servitude and trafficking, the study said.

The EU, on average, remains at medium risk of modern slavery, the index said.

It found that even the EUs largest economies were not immune. The UK, which introduced the Modern Slavery Act in 2016, has experienced a slight negative shift in its scores, moving from low risk to medium.

It is marginal change, but the driver in the UK is [lack of] enforcement, said Channer.

She said that while there have been positive changes in the UK, such as the expanded powers and remit of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, new data revealed gaps in the UKs labour inspectorate. In Germany, which has also experienced an upward shift in its score, there was an increase in recorded trafficking and servitude violations.

A Guardian report this week revealed that the modern-day slave trade has taken root in Britain, with multiple trials exposing how Sports Direct had unwittingly used slave labour.

More than 100,000 migrants entered Europe by sea in the first seven months of 2017, 82% of whom landed in Italy, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Arrivals in Greece have fallen since the EU-Turkey deal, but the country is host to significant numbers of migrants. It rose 16 places in the index.

Due to the geographical shift in migrant sea arrivals, analysts expect the risk of modern slavery to worsen in Italy over the next year, with agriculture a major sector of concern.

The five worst countries globally, rated at extreme risk of modern slavery, were North Korea, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The chief manufacturing hubs of Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand all featured in the extreme or high risk categories. However, India and Thailand have improved their scores, due to better efforts to enforce slavery-related laws.

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The migrants scramble onto a packed beach and pull a black inflatable dinghy onto the sand.

The serenity of the stretch of beach is suddenly broken as sunbathers are jarred from their day in the sun. Moments later, the migrants scatter.

The footage, recorded Wednesday in Playa de los Alemanes in Cdiz province, Spain, is a reminder of the large number of refugees and migrants making their way into Europe, even as the everyday life of vacationers goes on.

Though attention has turned from the European refugee and migrant crisis, thousands of people are still making the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa into Europe, often smuggled by human traffickers on inflatable dinghies or old fishing vessels. The crossing is often deadly. Since January, more than 2,405 people have drowned in the Mediterranean while attempting it.

Nearly 117,000 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea so far this year, according to a recent report from the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency. The vast majority almost 83 percent arrived in Italy, while the rest were divided among Greece, Cyprus and Spain.

While the overall number of arrivals is down from this time last year, Spain saw a surge in migration in 2017. Earlier this week, the Spanish Red Cross said it had treated 186 migrants who stormed a border post at Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast. They entered the heavily policed border area from Morocco and clashed with officers at the border. Thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan attempt the crossing each year in a bid to enter Europe.

On Thursday, 700 migrants tried to enter Ceuta, with some attempting to climb the 20-foot tall barbed wire fence at the border. None made it across, according to a report from The Associated Press that cited the Interior Ministrys Office.

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The grainy video has prompted outrage from Naples residents who say such incidents are becoming more and more common in cities across southern Italy.

In the video, a group of soldiers are seen arresting a man outside a shop before others approach the troops and try to pull the detained man away, who is lying on the ground.

Two men eventually succeed in pulling the detained man away, but the soldiers catch up to them and try again to arrest the man as onlookers quickly gather around.

The video has sent shockwaves through Italy after receiving a huge response on social media.

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Lello Cretella, who posted the video, wrote: Abandoned and betrayed! Episodes like these happen every day in our neighbourhood and everyone pretends not to see!

We feel alone and abandoned... we fear for us and our families!

Meanwhile, rightwing politician Matteo Salvini added: Men in our army are surrounded and attacked by dozens of immigrants who wanted to prevent the arrest of one of them.

We are now in urban warfare.

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Refugees and migrants wait in a small rubber boat to be rescued off Lampedusa, Italy

Naples councillor Alessandro Gallo admitted: "The tension is very high every day.

Something very serious is happening with the army being surrounded. It is necessary to intervene."

As one of the largest countries on the Mediterranean coast, Italy has become a key point of entry for refugees and asylum seekers traveling to Europe.

The UNs International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates there are between 700,000 and one million people currently in Libya awaiting their chance to get into Europe.

Italy has demanded the UN takes the lead on the ongoing migrant crisis after finally losing patience with the European Union.

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The countrys foreign minister said it was time for the UN to tackle the situation in Libya, with thousands of people every month making their way across the Mediterranean Sea.

Angelino Alfano said it was time for the UN to face reality and to help stop the people trafficking and drowning.

He said: It is time for the UN to show its strategic role in the international chessboard.

There is a need for action at several levels: in the Libyan region, it is necessary to facilitate a wider dialogue between the actors involved in a common and peaceful road map and to reiterate to neighbouring countries the need to abandon conflict.

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'We're in urban warfare' Italy soldiers clash with migrants as locals 'fear for families' - Express.co.uk

Standing on deck seeing children, women and men up to their waist in seawater because their boat is slowly deflating, world politics suddenly seem very far away. We are the only ones here, in international waters. No other vessels around for miles, and about 140 people on the verge of dying. The roaring engines of our RHIBS carry the sound of survival for the people in the sinking boat.

If an hour earlier the Italian coast guard hadn't directed us to this location, these people would have died. Pushed out from Libyan shores hours before without an NGO vessel - or any other vessel - close by. Pushed out to sea by smugglers, but also by violence, detention, persecution, corruption or the simple fact that they saw no future in the place where they were.

When we dock in Catania a few days later, British journalist Katie Hopkins and members of the anti-immigrant movement Defend Europe are there, saying that we did the wrong thing. We shrug, restock, get our engine fixed and set out again.

A week later, I see what could have happened if we wouldn't have been on time. The NGO ProActiva Open Arms have rescued more than 160 people from a deflating rubber boat, but during an earlier panic on the dinghy at least 13 people died, drowned, trampled on, suffocated, burned by the chemical mix of seawater and fuel.

We board Open Arms' vessel to collect the bodies, as we have a morgue on board and they don't. Never have I witnessed such a horrific scene. We put the bodies in new body bags and photograph them - the photos will be used by the Italian police in case of a criminal investigation into the causes of death.

We're in the heart of the migration and refugee crisis, the big story of our era. Worldwide, more than 65million people have fled their homes. Most of them find refuge in their own countries or region, some try and make it to Europe through the dangerous crossing to Italy, a route on which this year roughly one in 43 people dies. And Italy has been bearing that brunt on its own for years.

Europe's answer however is quite simple: let's keep the migrants out. But surely, Europe can do better than that?

Let's acknowledge the fact that the rescue vessels on the Mediterranean are not the solution for this crisis - although they are a life-or-death solution for the people on the flimsy boats.

But let's also acknowledge the fact that people always will find ways to flee, as they have been doing for centuries. NGOs are in the eye of a political storm right now, as they are considered a pull-factor by some. Yet far more important for people to leave their homes are the push factors mentioned above; conflict, persecution, corruption, abuse, the lack of a future.

The truth is, there is no quick fix for this issue. Ban the export of rubber boats to Libya? Sure. A Code of Conduct? We're always willing to constructively search for solutions as long as they don't go against human rights and our humanitarian mandate.

But they are not solutions for the people in the heart of this crisis, to those who aim to cross and who will keep on finding ways to get to a place where they hope to build a future for their children and families.

In the short term, Europe must install safe and legal routes for people to come to Europe. Among the 577 people we recently brought to Italy were 66 Syrians; families with young children. Many of them fled war in their country years ago and were now fleeing the violence in Libya. It's almost certain they'll get their asylum status, so why are we forcing them, families with children, to get on a flimsy boat? The same goes for Eritreans, of whom we brought more than 250 to safety last week; they'll get their status, so why can't they come to Europe legally?

The long term solution lies in tackling the root causes of mass migration. People flee violence, torture, slavery, poverty, the lack of opportunities. If we can take those causes away, people would no longer have a reason to leave their homes.

That, however, would take a different way of political thinking. It's about time the EU looked at those alternatives, instead of choosing borders over people. If it doesn't, people will keep looking for dangerous ways to come to Europe. And that will mean more lives being lost.

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Face It: There Is No Quick Fix In This Migrant Crisis | HuffPost UK - HuffPost UK

St Kilda beach lifeguard Simon Lewis is heading over to Europe for one of the hardest jobs Earth. Picture: Chris Eastman

THE buck stops with me. Im responsible, St Kilda lifesaver Simon Lewis says, if I get it wrong, people can die and if I get it right, then a lot of lives can be saved.

In his red and yellow uniform with windswept hair, 33-year-old Simon might look like any other typical Aussie surf lifesaver. But hes not.

Simon is an international humanitarian lifeguard who is about to face the most harrowing task of his career.

In a few short hours, hell board a plane to Europe and complete two back-to-back volunteer lifesaving missions. The second posting will see him installed as the first Australian head of mission for a non-profit organisation (NGO) on the deadliest migration route in the world, off the coast of Libya.

Each week, thousands of desperate people attempt to cross the treacherous Mediterranean Sea in flimsy inflatable boats. According to the United Nations, more than 5000 people died trying in 2016.

Reflecting on the enormity of his upcoming task, Simon explains that at any one time, 500 stricken refugees can be transferred to the Mission Lifeline vessel hell be stationed on.

We put a lot of strategies in place ... and weve got specialist mass rescue equipment, but the sad reality of it is that people do die.

Youve just got to give dignity in death. No matter what happens [and] what the outcomes are, you need to remember how you would want to be treated.

You dont put yourself in the sea and you dont put yourself in a situation where youre going to die unless its your single best hope of life, he says.

Even so, Simon who has already completed three previous missions acknowledges the so-called burden of rescue.

You cant un-see what youve seen, you cant un-smell what youve smelt the smell of death, the smell of fear, the smell of vomit, he says, You feel extremely proud of yourself when you save someone but when you dont you feel a deep low. You couldnt help them but you were right there.

Simon Lewis (left) with his colleagues during a previous rescue mission. Picture: Kevin McElvaneySource:Supplied

Over the last two years Simon has helped to save the lives of nearly 1,400 African and Syrian refugees as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Greece and Italy.

Sure, he could have stayed in his comfort zone patrolling St Kilda beach and working at various local swim centres. But he didnt. And he didnt because he couldnt.

I cannot just sit by in Australia and watch people drown in Europe and not help them, he explains.

Like so many of us, Simon saw the devastating photo of three-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi drowned and washed ashore near Bodrum in Turkey on September 2, 2015.

I saw that dead child and the way he washed up on the beach, the position of his body [and] because of my Australian lifesaving skills, I knew that the tidal currents were strong.

I knew how he would have died by the colour of the skin and how he would have had a very tragic death, Simon recalls.

The picture of little Aylan Kurdi that galvanised the world. Picture: Nilufer Demir / AFP / DOGAN NEWS AGENCYSource:AFP

He hit Google and quickly learned that Aylan Kurdi was not alone. Thousands of people fleeing war and political unrest in their homelands were dying trying to cross to Europe.

I thought to myself: Well I know how to save people, I know how to rescue people. Why am I not at the biggest humanitarian crisis of our generation, using my skills?

To Simon, little Aylan Kurdi looked just like any other child at St Kilda beach and he deserved to live.

After learning that the International Surf Lifesaving Association was looking for volunteers to assist in the European refugee crisis, Simon successfully applied. By January 2016, he was on his way to Lesbos, Greece.

Fairly rapidly, Simon made international news. Around the world, journalists reported the excruciating moment when Simon declined to take the baby of a desperate refugee woman in the middle of the Aegean Sea.

The boat was moving and she was looking at me, piercing me with her eyes and holding her child out of the boat and saying: Take my baby.

I wanted to take the baby but I couldnt because under international law, it would have been classed as people smuggling. The boat was not in distress. It hadnt stopped and started sinking.

I still remember the look on her face and just breaking her heart that sticks in my head a lot, Simon confesses.

Simon serving food to a rescued refugee girl on MV Aquarius. Picture: Kevin McElvaneySource:Supplied

Although Simon is listed as one of three Victorian Local Hero of the Year 2017 finalists, hes not searching for recognition: I get my thank you from the people we save. They look you in the eyes [and] thats the best reward and the moment that Im the most proud of.

Although Simons next mission is big one, hes focused on staying grounded.

I am anxious, but I know I can handle it because I did a previous mission with SOS Mediterranees MV Aquarius ship patrol in January this year. Ill be applying their search and rescue skills and transferring those professional skills to a new NGO.

Priority number one is myself being an active lifeguard, number two is my boat or my equipment and number three is the victim. So if I take myself out, no one gets saved. Youve got to have that situational awareness and sometimes you cant help everyone, he says.

Melbourne lifeguard Simon Lewis documents his mission with SOS Mediterranee in the SAR zone off the coast of Libya, rescuing refugees at sea. Courtesy: Simon Lewis

You can donate to Simons GoFundMe campaign.

Ginger Gorman is an award-winning print and radio journalist. Follow her on Twitter @GingerGorman or support her work on Patreon.

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