The number of people freed from slave work in Brazil, during the first 10 months of 2005, reached 3,360, which is already superior to last year’s total of 2,887, as per information by the Ministry of Labor and Employment.
According to the national coordinator of the Ministry’s Special Mobile Inspection Group, Marcelo Gonçalves Campos, this increase is due to a more intensive inspection.
"From 1999 to 2002, inspections totaled 30 per year. In 2003, there were 66 operations, and in 2004, 72. Until the end of this year, we expect to reach 80." Since 2003, more than 11 thousand workers were freed from labor conditions that resembled slavery.
Campos recalled that the National Pact to Eradicate Slave-Type Labor established the creation of a list of the so-called "bad employers", launched by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2003.
Employers accused of using slave labor, and who have already gone through all of the legal defense process, will have their names included in the list.
The 180 people already in the list are not entitled to receive any sort of public financing during two years. Campos also mentioned other initiatives such as the constitutional amendment proposal that determines the expropriation of the land where slave labor has been found.
The states that present highest numbers of slave labor are Pará, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Bahia. According to the coordinator, this activity happens mostly in areas of illegal deforestation for agricultural purposes.
Agência Brasil