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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 OCTOBER 2023 NEWS The unlikely solution to youths leaving Malta: criminal assets NICOLE MEILAK MALTA'S Asset Recovery Bu- reau currently holds over €51 million in criminal assets, a large chunk of which are seized cars and properties. The proceeds from the sale of these assets are reinvested back into society, but what if those assets were re-used by giving them to local community groups? In Italy, the social re-use of criminal assets is proving a unique tool to promoting sol- idarity and combatting organ- ised crime. Chiara di Gaetano, an activist with Italian NGO Libera, says that re-using such assets has benefits across the board. "When you seize or confis- cate an asset, and then manage it through social re-use, you're preventing organised crime from continuing their work in the area," she said. Apart from stopping organised crime groups in their tracks, the social re-use of assets can also be a powerful signal to crimi- nals and citizens alike. "It sig- nals to society that something new is happening there." Di Gaetano explained that there must be a social element to asset re-use, meaning assets cannot be given to any for-prof- it enterprise. "They have to be social enter- prises or cooperatives for it to be recognised as social reuse," she said. "Social enterprises are enterprises for profit, but they must have a component of, say, hiring vulnerable demograph- ics, or providing services to vul- nerable areas." A key demographic that is benefiting from social re-use are youths. Social enterprises help create jobs in areas where organised crime has been en- demic for years, allowing young people to feel like they have a future in their hometown. "When you consider that over a million youth are migrating from the south of Italy every year in search of better working and liv- ing conditions; the fact that there are enterprises creating jobs with a social purpose […] this creates a possibility for youth to remain in their home area and avoids emp- ty territories." She added that young people leaving their hometowns helps organized crime remain there. "The fact that so many youths are leaving Italy is a problem that needs to be addressed. It comes down to the fact that young people don't feel like they have a future in the place they are born." How can criminal assets be re- used socially? In August 2022, Libera host- ed a summer camp for 25 girls and boys from all over Italy. They met with families of mafia victims, enjoyed artistic work- shops, and watched films. It all happened a property in Pietralunga that was confiscat- ed from the 'Ndrangheta. The area, a hundred hectares of land in the Col della Pila aream had been recently assigned for social reuse to the Paneolio di Arci. Meanwhile, a farmhouse in Piemonte is being used as a meeting place and has hosted plenty of summer camps. The farmhouse, Cascina Arzilla, was one of the first assets to be con- fiscated in northern Italy, but since 2004 it has been assigned for social reuse, with strong links to environmental and hu- man exploitation. It is also dedicated to Rita Atria and Antonio Landieri, two young mafia victims. Atria was born into a mafia family but committed suicide at the age of 17 after magistrate Paolo Bor- sellino, who was like a father figure to her, was killed by a car bomb in Palermo. Antonio Landieri died with two bullets in his back in 2004 after being mistaken for a drug dealer. He was unable to escape due to his disabilities, making him the first person with a disability to be killed by the mafia. Naming and dedicating con- fiscated assets to innocent ma- fia victims is common in Italy. Di Gaetano says it's a message of solidarity with the families of the victims. "It's not a repa- ration in and of itself, but at a community and societal level, it's a way to stand with the peo- ple directly affected by organ- ized crime." Apart from providing commu- nities with needed resources, the social re-use of criminal assets also allows communities to talk openly about organized crime and its prevalence at local, na- tional, and transnational levels. "There is this struggle that I see when it comes to talking about the presence of organized crimes in society. Organised crime is an endemic problem, it's not just a foreign concept imported by migrant communi- ties. It's something that's made possible because the situation in your country enables it to prosper and grow and profit." But the social re-use of assets can be a powerful tool to move past the dismissive attitude to- wards the presence of organized crime in countries. "It opens the floor to public recognition that, not only is mafia here, creating problems and damaging soci- ety, but the anti-mafia is also there, with citizens and institu- tions actively present. It opens the wound, in a sense, and from there, a lot of things can hap- pen." Top: In Umbria, an area of land once used by the 'Ndrangheta has now been assigned for social reuse Above: The Cascina Arzilla in Piemonte was one of the first mafia assets to be confiscated in northern Italy