Oslavery, unfortunately, is a reality for many people in Brazil and around the world. Data collected by the International Labor Organization (ILO) show that there are at least 20.9 million enslaved people, while a survey promoted by the US NGO “Free the Slaves” estimates a total of 27 million people working in conditions similar to slavery in the world.i
There are two ILO labor conventions, one from 1930 and the other from 1957, which aim to regulate working conditions and eradicate slave labor. In Brazil, article 149 of the Brazilian Penal Code defines working conditions analogous to slavery - which include the forced labour and the degrading working conditions — and provides for punishments for those convicted of enslaving and enticing people into forced labor. It is noteworthy that the UN and the ILO recognize the concept of slave labor provided for in the Brazilian Penal Code.
There's one slave labor cycle which includes: a misery where many people find themselves; O grooming of those people with life-changing promises; and the work that eliminates the
shutdown conditions between the worker and the boss. This cycle can only be ended with denunciation and inspection.Therefore, the performance of public bodies, such as the Public Ministry of Labor, is extremely important. Federal Police and civil police, as well as the action of NGOs against slave labor and in favor of Rights Humans. There is also an important role played by international organizations, such as the UN and the ILO, for the eradication of slavery practices in the world.
Read too: Human Rights: what they are, articles and how they came about
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Contemporary slave labor cycle
As it is not a legally accepted practice in almost the entire world and is condemned by organizations international, the enslavement of people can be summed up in a cycle that repeats itself in most of the cases. This cycle has six steps cyclic and one only way out possible for it to terminate. The following topics further explain how the slave labor cycle works:
Socioeconomic vulnerability: Victims of contemporary slave labor are people with low income or unemployed, usually with little education, who seek a way out of the precarious conditions in which they live. Many of them are in rural areas or small towns.
grooming and migration: People called “cats” are responsible for enticing people in situations that are vulnerable to slave labor. As a persuasion, cats promise good remuneration and good working conditions. Enticed people are taken away from their places of origin, often even to other countries. These people accumulate, throughout their trajectory, debts that are impossible to be paid with the salary they will receive from their bosses. The first debt is acquired for the ticket that will take the person to their place of work. Many of the victims are children, and a large proportion, children or not, are sexually exploited. In many cases, sexual exploitation takes place without the victim even knowing he was being taken into prostitution.
Slavery: Upon reaching their destinations, victims are faced with the real conditions they will be subjected to. Degrading work, food and accommodation conditions; acquisition of debts, in addition to the ticket, with tools, food, accommodation; and withholding documents until victims settle their debts. Along with all these human rights violations, there is low remuneration, which makes it impossible for the debt to be paid.
escape: In general, there are cases of people who manage to flee their workplaces and the criminal bosses who enslave them. These people put their own lives at risk, as there are criminals linked to slave labor and to human trafficking (who build an arsenal) and several foremen to keep victims under control. If fleeing victims succeed, they can report their situation to the authorities, which brings us to the next point in the cycle.
Inspection and release: Upon receiving a complaint, the Public Ministry of Labour, the Public Ministry, the police or any state authority has the duty to accept the complaint and investigate what was reported. This type of inspection is important, as it leads to the release of victims of slave labor.
Payment of rights: In Brazil, criminals responsible for enslaving people can even face imprisonment. In addition to any legal punishment, which may even be mild, the convicts must pay compensation for the situation generated to the victim and payment of retroactive labor rights, such as a minimum wage compatible with the hours worked and with the provisions of the labor convention that governs the function exercised. Entitlements such as paid vacations, vacation pay, seniority fund (FGTS) and thirteenth salary must also be paid.
Socioeconomic vulnerability: Unfortunately, many victims of slave labor return to their homelands and to the situation of penury in which they found themselves at the beginning of the cycle, that is: unemployment, low pay, misery, hunger etc. However, this situation can be reversed with the action of sectors (governmental or not) that promote the eradication of slave labor or assistance to victims.
Combating slave labor - the end of the cycle
There are three main points that put an end to slave labor. Are they:
Prevention: it happens through education; promoting information; associativism and cooperativism to generate income within needy communities; income generation in the country; and access to land within rural areas.
Assistance to victims: includes the need for temporary accommodation; the payment of rights through legal proceedings or a labor agreement; and professional qualification so that that person does not return to the same state in which he was at the beginning of the cycle.
Repressions: they are still, in many cases, mild for those who are caught keeping workers in slavery in Brazil. Thus, it is essential that there is punishment in order to curb this violation of Human Rights. Repression takes place through financial compensation for victims; of indemnities and payments of rights; and the punishment of criminals, which may include a penalty, under a prison regime, from two to eight years.
Read too: How was the life of ex-slaves after the Golden Law?
Types of slave labor
Forced labor and degrading conditions constitute slavery.
Slave labor, unlike simple infractions against labor laws, can be verified based on the observance of certain common features. Such features include:
Forced labour: When the worker, not wanting or no longer wanting to continue in that work activity in which he finds himself, it is forced by his boss through physical force, debt balance, blackmail, or any other factor, he is being enslaved.
exhausting journey: If the worker is subjected to long hours, most often unpaid, which do not allow for a necessary rest between one journey and another and put his health at risk, he may be in a position to slavery. There is also, often, disrespect for weekly rest.
debt bondage: When the worker is forced to continue working to pay off debts with the employer, he is in conditions of slavery. These debts include, in most cases, tickets, accommodation and food, which, even if precarious, are charged at an exorbitant amount for the victim to be kept as a slave.
Degrading conditions: When the worker is kept in degrading conditions in their work environment, which can include physical violence and psychological, precarious housing, insufficient or unhealthy food and water, and lack of medical assistance, he is in a condition of slavery.
Read too: Slavery in the Muslim World
Slave labor in Brazil
In the year of 1995, Brazil officially assumed the existence of slave labor in its territory before the ILO. Since then, there is a government and state commitment to eradicate this practice. Through the performance of public bodies of inspection and punishment belonging to the three powers and the performance of NGOs, the Brazilian Government has been mapping and fighting this practice that violates the Human Rights of the Brazilian population.
According to a survey by the Ministry of Labor and the Pastoral Land Commission, released by the NGO “Slave, Nem Pensar!”, more than 52 thousand workers were rescued from slavery between 1995 and 2016.
of these, 92% they were men; 22% worked in crops of sugar cane, 31% in the activity livestock, 18% in diverse crops, 7% in cultivation of charcoal, 5% at the logging forest, 3% at the reforestation, 2% at the plant extractivism, 1% at mining; and, in urban areas, 5% were in the construction While 1% was in the textile manufacture. There are still four percentage points for unreported activities.
of these people, 32% they were illiterate and 39% completed, at most, the first phase of elementary school. O Maranhão leads the ranking of origin of these enslaved workers, followed by Bahia, For, Minas Gerais and Piauí.ii
Many workers are still in a situation of slavery in Brazil. In domestic work, in agricultural activities, in mining, in civil construction or in textile production, there are still people who suffer from attacks on their rights. It is extremely important that the work of NGOs and public bodies that work for the eradication of slave labor is maintained and financed.
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To report cases of slave labor, just access this link or call 158. |
Read too: The consolidation of labor laws in Brazil
where slave labor takes place
rural slave labor: Most slave labor in Brazilian territory, and in countries with the majority of GDP represented by rural activities, comes from the countryside. The workers are part of the corporate bodies or are maintained by landowners and large explorers, mainly in agriculture, livestock and mining. It is worth remembering that, in the case of agriculture, those who maintain slave labor are the large agricultural companies linked to the agribusiness. Encouraging family farming can be an alternative for reducing rural slave labor.
urban slave labor:Many contemporary slaves, mainly in less developed but industrialized countries, are located in urban areas of countries like China, India, Bangladesh and Thailand. Slave labor in these locations is mainly related to the textile industry and civil construction.
iSlave, no way!: an approach to contemporary slave labor in the classroom and in the community / Repórter Brasil (“Slave, no way!”) – São Paulo: Repórter Brasil, 2012. 2nd edition updated, p. 27.
ii Information can be verified on the link: http://escravonempensar.org.br/o-trabalho-escravo-no-brasil/
by Francisco Porfirio
Sociology Professor
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PORPHYRIO, Francisco. "Contemporary slave labor"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/sociologia/escravidao-nos-dias-de-hoje.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
