Brazil’s Wild West Has Largest Concentration of Slave Workers

The Brazilian states with the highest incidence of slave labor are Pará, Mato Grosso, and Tocantins, areas where the agricultural frontier is expanding.

According to Patrí­cia Audi, coordinator of the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) project in Brazil to combat slave labor, Mato Grosso, in particular, registers many instances of workers lured into jobs that involve clearing forests to plant pasture, cotton, and soybeans or clearing land that has already been deforested.

"It is precisely the Amazon development crescent, and that is why this region is more prone to the use of this criminal practice," Audi said.

Mato Grosso, the largest state in the Center-West region and one of Brazil’s major agricultural frontiers, leads the country in the number of workers released from slave labor conditions by the Ministry of Labor and Employment’s (MTE) mobile inspection groups. According to MTE data, 1,411 workers were freed last year in the state.

Audi observed that the workers held under slave conditions are generally simple people with little formal instruction.

The ILO considers Brazil an international model in the fight against slave labor, because the country acknowledges the existence of the problem and has adopted policies to combat the practice.

"It is a challenge, and Brazil has been winning the battle, but state governments really have to get more involved in the fight," she concluded.

ABr

Tags:

You May Also Like

Presidential Candidate Serra Presented to Brazilians as Experience Vs Adventure

Former São Paulo governor and former Health Minister José Serra, launched by a coalition ...

Dictatorship-Era Law Regulating Journalists in Brazil to Be Challenged

Reporters Without Borders is to challenge a ruling by Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice ...

While the World Tightens Belt Brazilians Go Shopping

Brazil is proving to be the best alternative for national – and even foreign ...

National Geographic Film Festival Offers Brazilian Treat

This year’s National Geographic All Roads Film Festival will feature two movies from Brazil, ...

27% of Brazil’s Youth Do Nothing. They Neither Work Nor Study.

About a quarter of Brazilians in the 15 to 24 age group neither work nor ...

Too Early to Write Off the Left in Latin America

Recent political developments across the region have prompted celebratory proclamations in the mainstream Western ...

Travel Agents to Get Red Carpet and Free Ticket to Brazil

One of the most successful products of the Brazilian Institute of Tourism (Embratur) in ...

Brazil Is World’s Number 3 in Franchises with Revenues of US$ 135 Bi in 2010

Last year alone, 14,365 new franchises were opened in Brazil, generating 144,000 new work ...

Cattle from Uruguay

The Invasion of Uruguay. Brazil Has Taken Over the Meat and Rice Industries

In Uruguay, as in all other countries in the region, the expansion of single-crop ...

Infant Mortality Falls in Brazil While Killing of Youngsters Shoots Up

Violence affects Brazilian children and adolescents in different ways. Consequently, different instruments and programs ...