Contemporary Slavery in Brazil

History: Contemporary Slavery in Brazil
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Introduction
“Slavery has been officially abolished in 1888 but today, slavery takes form under coerced labor. Landowners in Brazil do not physically own slaves; instead they just threaten their workers in order to make them work.” In this modern world, slavery is still alive. The contemporary form of slavery began in the 1960’s-1970 in Brazil with the introduction of modern farming technique that called for more laborers in ranches. In the Amazon, the growth of large scale agri-business placed more pressure on the available resources and this led to massive deforestation an act that accelerated the demand for forced labor. In this effect, most men and women have been lured away from their homes in city slums with promises of working for huge ranches in the rural areas for decent wages which happens to be false. This has made them to be trapped in a system of debt bondage as upon arriving, they are presented with bills for; transportation, food and housing which is the beginning of brutality.
The slaved workforces are overworked under threats with no or little pay under the guidance of a gun by collaboration landowners and corrupt federal officers. This form of contemporary slavery is prevalent in rural areas especially under cattle ranches, sugar cane industry and in the garment industry in urban centers. In all these industries, forced labor is adopted on men 15 years and above where they are forced to work for long hours without or with little pay. Mostly, they are subjected to sexual, psychological or physical violence.
Slavery in Brazil
The Brazilian government has undertaken various measures to combat contemporary slavery in Brazil. The government has established the Mobile Inspection Group as well as publishing the list of all companies and farms that engages in slave labor in a dirty list. In 2005, for instance, the Special Mobile Inspection Group freed a total of 4113 slaves in Amazonian area, a number that is ever increasing since the establishment of the group i.e. from 583 in 2000 a number that is ever increasing in accordance to the Brazilian Ministry of Labor. Such farms and companies are not in a position of accessing public funds due to the restriction placed on them. Furthermore, the government has put aside a well resourced National Plan for the Eradication of Slavery which was launched in 2003 aimed at combating all forms of Forced Labor while reflecting the government renewed commitment.
The Brazilian government strives to coordinates various public authority bodies including trade unions, rural workers’ cooperatives; organized civil society groups (NGOs), Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), universities and various private sectors. The government has been effective in fighting slave labor through successful awareness campaigns and promoting of confidence of the public towards the system that has led to any people making complaints to the authorities or even organizations such as the CPT. The formation of the National Pact with private sectors and the establishment of Multi-stakeholder National Commission that is mandated to fight against forced labor across the whole of the supply chain. Here, company’s owners commit themselves in the prevention and eradication of any form of slavery in their organization as well as allowing the operation and organization treatment of workers to be monitored frequently likes the Wall-mart. The CONATRAE by bringing together the federal police, the government and NGO’s facilitate cooperation between these bodies while enhancing the implementation of the National Plan Action.
The plans and intentions of the government were to have fully combated the problem by 2006 thus making it to be aggressive in the plans. To achieve this, the Executive Group to Eradicate Forced Labor (GERTRAF) was established in 1995 by the government to fight slave labor. GERTRAF worked together with the government ministries in coordination with the Ministry of Labor and Employment. The government appealed to land owners to cooperate with the government in fighting the slave labor given that it had recognized the existence of slavery. Through the Human Rights Minister, the government introduced free hotlines to be used in reporting human rights abuses.
The Special Mobile Inspection Group is mandated to identify instances of slavery labor by investigating complaints of slave labor reported to them by the CPT so as to be in a position of freeing slave workers and prosecute land owners. The group is made up of labor inspectors, labor prosecutors and Federal Police officers, and it’s located in the capital of Brazil thus dealing with issues of corruption and improving their efficiency. The setting up of mobile courts facilitates the operation of Special Mobile Inspection Groups. In their operation they have been effective in freeing slaves by negotiating for the payment of their outstanding wages of workers. The mobile courts imposes fines, seize assets as well as freezing bank accounts of land owners engaging in the slave labor practice thus fostering cooperation from such land owners. In its effect, the workers are paid their dues by land owners, a good effort in combating the menace.
The existence of slave labor during inspections is portrayed by the availability of armed guards, indebtedness of workers, absence of work safety, long working hours, very low wages, ill treatment and poor hygiene for workers especially in their living quarters. As a result, significant changes is evidenced in the favorable working conditions of workers given that slave labor victims have been taught their rights thus curbing impunity in the labor market. Apart from freeing victims, freed workers are compensated by labor inspectors during inspection with the help of fines levied on employers who overlooked the labor legislatives. Firms which engage in slave trade are fined huge amounts of fines, for instance, Lima Araujo Ltd in 2005 was ordered to pay a sum of US$ 2.2 million for having held 180 people including 9 children under contemporary slave labor situation. Hence, between the years 2003 to 2005, the Special Mobile Inspection Group has managed to identify and free about 12,000 slave laborers effectively.
The CPT, a body that is made up of missionaries and priests in local parishes, the Federal Police, Rural Workers’ Unions and workers’ cooperatives, collects complaints from the workers who are subjected to slave labor before reporting them to the Special Group for inspection. The CPT is responsible for the expenses of witness comprising of food, transport and accommodation. Slave workers who have managed to flee from estates do file complaints to the CPT. The variants of constitutional amendments that were passed by the Brazilian congress do permit the federal authorities to seize land from owners engaging in contemporary form of slavery. In prohibiting the vice, the government imprisons such owners for two to eight years while fines are levied on lack of certain amenities to workers like proper housing or absence of emergency medical care. The labor courts nowadays rule in favor of slave workers and against landowners thus making them to compensate all the workers freed in those industries, both for moral and physical damage.
The embracing of the Marco Zero project by the government through the Ministry of Labor was a great step in curbing this problem. This project is concerned with hiring of rural workers thus helping to do away with private intermediary who have been luring the public with false promises during recruitment. It is an effective tool of provision of job opportunities as well as for repressing labor inspection thus helping to enforce labor legislation of the State in rural areas. This project is facilitated by NGOs and local authorities where they gather offers from farmers and registering workers looking for jobs for ease placement. The intention of the government is to sanction employers who subject their workforce to degrading conditions while campaigning for a Decent Work Agenda. The government has also partner with other nations such as Peru where there is an exchange of experience between the labor inspectorates of the two nations concerning slave labor.
The government engages in the payment of unemployment benefits to all freed slave workers in respect to the country’s unemployment benefit program guaranteed in the Act No. 10.608/2002. The assistance is given to those workers due to their illegal dismissal or those freed from slavery labor which is eq...