Brazil rescued nearly 50 thousand people from slave labor in 20 years

Over the course of two decades, operations aimed at fighting slavery or slave-like labor have rescued over 47 thousand workers subjected to degrading conditions and excessive work hours in rural properties as well as companies based in urban centers.

According to data from the Ministry of Labor, ever since 1995, when the country consolidated its system for fighting present-day slavery, 1,724 operations have been launched in 3,995 properties, and more than $35.66 million was collected in compensatory fines.

In 1995, Brazil officially acknowledged the existence and gravity of the problem, and implemented structural measures to look for solutions, like the establishment of the Mobile Inspection Group and the adoption of administrative and criminal penalties applicable to businesses and landowners found to perpetrate the crime. The initiative also imposed economic restrictions on production chains which violate laborers' right to come and go and force them into inhumane working conditions.

Twenty years after the strategies were implemented, Alexandre Lyra, head of the Labor Ministry's Inspection Division for the Eradication of Slave Labor, told Agência Brasil that the environment where this practice takes place has been shifting from rural to urban areas. “Last year, for instance, we conducted a rescue operation on a cruise ship, where 11 crew members were subjected to excessive work hours,” Lyra explained.

In his view, the approval of the Constitutional Amendment on Slave Labor by  Congress in 2014 was another improvement. Lyra, however, highlighted the importance of regulating the amendment, and cautioned against changing the definition of slave-like working conditions—as desired by some groups at Congress, particularly the landowners' coalition. Taking into consideration the migration of the practice from the country to urban areas, using restricted freedom as the only criteria for classifying slave labor would represent “a step backwards”.

“What the landowners' coalition wants—supported as they are now by other sectors, like construction—is for slave labor to be exclusively defined by deprivation of freedom—an old idea which lasted up to 2003, when a legislative innovation was brought into effect which expanded the scope of what falls under 'slave-like labor' in the Penal Code,” Lyra argued. “According to current standards, the idea of slave labor is no lounger founded merely on deprivation of freedom, armed surveillance, and the lost right to come and go. If we separate the concept of slave-like labor from degrading conditions and exhaustive work days, there'll be very little left to it.”

Prosecutor-General for Labor Luís Antônio Camargo believes the country still has reasons to regret the existence of slave labor, but the government official acknowledges that strides have been made. In his opinion, the cooperation between several government agencies and organizations from civil society has gained international respect and led to the recognition of the problem. The creation of the Mobile Inspection Group and the launch of the plan for eradication of slave labor, he adds, were a major contribution in addressing the issue.

Today, January 28, the National Day Against Slave Labor, Lyra reiterated that any one may report degrading working conditions by calling the Disque 100 hot line. “This is the most democratic way, but we also have the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), the Public Prosecution Office for Labor, and the state branches of the Labor Ministry itself.”

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira