Assisting and empowering victims of human trafficking:

Domestic trafficking in farms, forests, sugarcane plantations, coal mines.

Good practices

Human trafficking in Brazil

Domestic trafficking for labor exploitation by economic chains

In the past decade, 40,500 workers were rescued from slave labor in Brazil. An average of around 3,000 workers were rescued in each of the past three years (CPT).

Close to 2,000 establishments throughout Brazil were caught engaging in slave labor, mainly in rural areas. There were many cases in urban areas at large construction sites and workshops, involving Latin-American workers.

Profile of persons rescued from slave labor in Brazil

Adult men and youths: ages 18 to 44. Migrants from the Northeast of Brazil, mainly in the States of Maranhão and Piauí. Many had already gone through slave labor (59.7%). A minority had been reached by inspection teams (12.6%).

Source: ILO research on the profile of the main actors involved in rural slave labor in Brazil, 2011

Profile of rescued slave workers in Brazil

Schooling: Between 2003 and October 2012, 73.7% had not completed the fifth grade of elementary school, and half of those never learned to read. (Data from the Unemployment Insurance program)

Profile of rescued slave workers in Brazil

A cycle of exploitation beginning in childhood:Almost all the workers enslaved today were victims of child labor exploitation.

June 2010: Slave workers on a sugarcane plantation in Mato Grosso do Sul receive their meals. Photo: Joao Roberto Ripper / Imagens Humanas

The exhausting work of harvesting sugarcane

A worker who cuts an average of 12 tons of sugarcane a day does all of the following: he walks 8.8 km; he swings his knife 366,300 times; he carries 12 tons of sugarcane in 15 kg loads, so he walks, 800 times, a distance of 2-3 meters, carrying 15 kg, with his arms and legs flexing 36,630 times, to take care of the sugarcane. He sweats 8 liters of water per day.

Where the problem occurs:Pará and Mato Grosso top the statistical list in terms of slave labor.Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso do Sul (producers of charcoal and steel) have become more prominent in recent years.Between 2003 and 2009, in addition to Pará and Mato Grosso, four states had a higher than average number of workers freed: Tocantins, Maranhão, Bahia, and Goiás. The numbers were also high in Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais.

CPT study reveals that among the 15 states with the most workers freed between 2003 and 2009, five are in Amazônia Legal (PA, MT, TO, MA ,and RO). Six states first had slave workers freed between 2003 and 2009 (GO, MS, RJ, PE, PR and ES).

Economic activities Cases of slave labor from 2003 to 2012

Compilation: CPT

ACTIVITY Cases identified

% Cases investigated

% Workers freed

%

DEFORESTATION 123 5.1% 89 5.3% 2,058 5.1%ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 1,324 54.4% 769 46.0% 11,376 28.2%REFORESTATION 77 3.2% 75 4.5% 1,034 2.6%EXTRACTIVISM 21 0.9% 17 1.0% 414 1.0%SUGARCANE 75 3.1% 70 4.2% 10,659 26.5%OTHER FARM WORK

303 12.4% 246 14.7% 7,209 17.9%

CHARCOAL 264 10.8% 188 11.3% 3,148 7.8%MINING 29 1.2% 23 1.4% 253 0.6%OTHER & n.i * 218 9.0% 193 11.6% 4,123 10.2%TOTAL 2,434 100.0% 1670 100.0% 40,274 100.0%

Land and Power•In Brazil, 7.6% of properties occupy 75% of the country’s arable land mass, while 92.4% of properties occupy 25% of that mass.•Rural caucus in the National Congress: Strong push to change the law. •Present moment : Lobbying attempt to question and discredit the concept of slave labor, alleging that it is insufficiently specific and characterizes “any situation as slave labor.”

According to Kátia Abreu, the concept of slave labor is subjective and can lead to misidentification, harming landowners.

Urban labor / 2012

Division of Inspection for the Eradication of Slave Labor – DETRAE / SIT: 22 inspections were conducted in urban areas / total of 255 inspections in 2012. Seventeen of these cases resulted in the rescue of 577 workers.

Urban labor in São Paulo/2012

Clandestine workshop in São Paulo (SRTE/SP)

From La Paz to São Paulo, the story of one human trafficking victim’s exploitation

July 27, 2012 – Rescued Bolivian tells Repórter Brasil, in detail, how financial difficulties landed him in a clandestine sewing shop in Brazil.

Definition of slave labor in BrazilBrazil is signatory to two international conventions:Forced Labour Convention (No. 29), of 1930, ratified by Brazil in

1957, which defines forced labor as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (No. 105), of 1957, ratified by Brazil in 1965.

Article 149 of the Penal Code

Reducing someone to a slave-like condition, whether by subjecting the person to forced labor or exhausting working hours, or by subjecting the person to degrading working conditions, or by restricting the person’s movement by any means on the basis of a debt contracted with the employer or agent.Penalty – imprisonment for 2 (two) to 8 (eight) years, and a fine, in addition to the penalty for acts of violence.

“Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

Slave labor as a means of human trafficking

Definitions, Art. 3 of the Palermo Protocol

Network action to fight slave labor

History:First accusations of modern slave labor : 1970 / Dom Pedro Casaldáliga, Bishop of São Félix do Araguaia, State of Mato Grosso.The CPT issued countless complaints until the Brazilian Government recognized the existence of slave labor within Brazil (1995).The CPT and CEJIL denounced the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for omissions and ineffective investigation of slave labor in the José Pereira case.

Network action to fight slave labor

Frameworks1995 – Creation of the Special Mobile Inspection Group,

coordinated by the Ministry of Labor and Employment, with support from the Federal Police, and in conjunction with the Office of the Labor Prosecutor

2003 – Launch of the National Plan for the Eradication of Slave Labor 2004 – Established the “dirty list,” a registry of employers (whether individuals or legal entities) caught using slave labor, updated twice a year by the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE)

2003 – Creation of the National Commission for the Eradication of Slave Labor (Conatrae)

Network action to fight slave labor

2004 – Approval of proposed constitutional amendment (PEC) on slave labor, in 1st voting round, by Chamber of Deputies

Unaí Massacre –PEC approved, in 1st voting round, by Chamber of Deputies in response to national upheaval following the murders, on January 28, 2004

2006 – Definition of competence of Federal Justice system to try crimes of slave labor, by the Federal Supreme Court

• 2008 – Launch of Second National Plan for the Eradication of Slave Labor

• 2012 – Approval of PEC 438/01, in 2nd voting round, by Chamber of Deputies

The leading role of civil society

Progress in fighting slave labor in Brazil would have been impossible without the actions of civil society in pressing for the design and implementation of policies to counter the problem, in addition to various actions on its own initiative.

Eyes Open Campaign against enslavement

Created in 1997

Principal source of reports: Escaped workers are rescued and receive support and legal assistanceFrom 2003 to 2012, the CPT processed 1,109 complaints, of which 418 were investigated, resulting in the rescue of 8,233 workers.

Eight states (Bahia, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Piauí, Tocantins, and Rondônia), with the participation of the Center to Protect Life and Human Rights of Açailândia – MA, and of Repórter Brasil

Prevention: Workshops in camps and other rural communities; talks for pastoral agents, professors and students, social workers, community leaders, etc.; mobilizations; participation in State Commissions for the Eradication of Slave Labor (Coetraes) and in Conatrae

Nova Conquista (New Conquest) Settlement: Organization of workers and their families

guarantees access to land.

The country’s first settlement established by former slave workers who united to organize and acquire land.

The story began in 2004: Two groups of workers were persuaded to work at two farms in southern Pará.

Nova Conquista Settlement:Organization of workers and their families guarantees

access to land.

Founded the Association of Workers to Prevent Slave Labor, bringing families together;Organized together with Incra to fight for a piece of land;39 families acquired the Nova Conquista Settlement, covering 2,260 hectares;

Activities to prevent slave labor

“We want to do more for others. Think of how many people we are not saving from the cycle of slave labor! We always make it clear that people have the right to migrate freely, but the problem is knowing where they go, with whom, how the work is. The work of reporting is very important. (...) It was a great victory for the population that was able to gain access.”Francisco José dos Santos Oliveira, President of the Nova Conquista Association

Founded in 2001 – News agency reporting various violations. Slave labor always the focus.Journalism and research:•News agency•Hub of research on production chains•Agro-fuels and Commodities Monitoring Center

Educational Methodology Area:•Escravo, nem pensar! (Slavery, no way!) programTrains teachers and community leaders about modern slave labor and related topics; produces teaching materials on these subjects.

National Conference of Brazilian Bishops: Formed a working group to discuss slave labor, human trafficking, and measures to enlist churches and pastoral groups in fighting the problem.

Topic of the 2014 Fraternity Campaign: Human trafficking and fraternity. Slogan: “It is for freedom that Christ freed us.”

CRS and actions to eradicate slave labor in Brazil

2004 to 2008

CRS and actions to eradicate slave labor in Brazil

Today: Supporting coordinated efforts of society and the Church to fight human trafficking

“persons exposed to the risk of human trafficking and slave labor in Brazil have better means of access to a decent life.” (Strategic plan of CRS SAZ HACIA 2018).

CRS and actions to eradicate slave labor in Brazil

Enslaved workers are considered in government policies to break the cycle of slavery.

Vigilance against human trafficking and slave labor grows in society and the Church, mobilizes new actors, and consolidates action networks.

Government mechanisms and policies to confront human trafficking and slave labor are improved and implemented.

Ties of cooperation are established between members and international organizations on the topic of human trafficking and slave labor. (Strategic plan of CRS SAZ HACIA 2018)