Slave Labor in Brazil
Background on Slave Labor in Brazil
- The Brazil Reporter, since 2001, has been one of the main vehicles to cover the subject of the enslaved work in Brazil:
-
- Brazil Reporter: What is enslaved work?"
- Brazil Reporter: When a free person becomes enslaved
- Brazil Reporter: New slavery vs. Old slavery
- Brazil Reporter: 13 enslaved workers freed
- Brazil Reporter: Father Xavier Plassat, whom we visit on July 7 in Araguaina, is featured in this report on Liberation Theology."
- Brazil's 'slave' ranch workers -- BBC
- Fighting modern day slavery in Brazil -- Catholic Agency for Overseas Development
- Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy -- an interview with Kevin Bales in the Sun Magazine.
- The Sights and Voices of Dispossession: The Fight for the Land and the Emerging Culture of the MST -- (The Movement of the Landless Rural Workers of Brazil). Studies, statements & references
- "Struggle of the Landless" -- The Photography of Sebastião Salgado
- International Labour Organization (ILO) of Brazil--Slave Labor
- "Jewel of the Amazon: Who should control what may become the richest diamond mine in the world?" -- PBS Frontline (20-minute video)
July
4: We visited the Center for the Defense of
Life and Human Rights (CDVDH)
and spoke with employees of the center to
learn about their work and the mission of
the center. We saw the Eco-Charcoal project,
which is a demonstration of the
charcoal-making process carried on in the
Amazon by slave laborers, and met some of
the families involved in the training
group.
July
5 was spent in the field, visiting barrios
where the incidence of Slave Labor recruitment
is high, talking with people from the community
on the realities they face; why some
voluntarily opt for work they know is akin to
slave labor; where they go to work; testimonies
of slave labor victims, etc.
July 6: In Araguaina, the group visited a nearby community in Ananas where the CDH is operating a satellite office. We met people who have benefited from the Center and again heard testimonies from slave labor victims, as well as presentations from staff members.
July 6: In Araguaina, the group visited a nearby community in Ananas where the CDH is operating a satellite office. We met people who have benefited from the Center and again heard testimonies from slave labor victims, as well as presentations from staff members.
July
7: The group was in Araguaina meeting with
Brother Xavier (French brother working for the
CPT) who has had a long career in combating
slave labor. Brother Xavier provided an
excellent background of the history of Slave
Labor and the current status or working
environment for those combating Slave Labor.
~Joseph P. Kelly, CRS Brazil.
~Joseph P. Kelly, CRS Brazil.
Bro.
Xavier Plassat
How enslaved workers in Brazil are helped by
CRS and CDH
Enslaved workers must escape from the slave-like conditions in which they work, despite death-threats and actual killings thugs hired by farm owners.
In this clip, hear what human rights groups do to help enslaved workers.
The region around Araguaína in Northeast Brazil has the highest incidence of slave labor in Brazil. The Center for Human Rights along with the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) are leading forces in rescuing enslaved workers, taking legal depositions for use in prosecutions of slave holders, protection of escaped enslaved workers, and education and consciousness-raising among all workers.
Catholic Relief Services is a partial funding source of the Center for Human Rights, Dom Helder Camera Office,(Dom Centro de Direitos Humanos, Casa da Cidadania D. Helder Camara. Movimento Nacional de Direitos Humanos) in Araguaína, Tocantins, Brazil.
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Enslaved workers must escape from the slave-like conditions in which they work, despite death-threats and actual killings thugs hired by farm owners.
In this clip, hear what human rights groups do to help enslaved workers.
The region around Araguaína in Northeast Brazil has the highest incidence of slave labor in Brazil. The Center for Human Rights along with the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) are leading forces in rescuing enslaved workers, taking legal depositions for use in prosecutions of slave holders, protection of escaped enslaved workers, and education and consciousness-raising among all workers.
Catholic Relief Services is a partial funding source of the Center for Human Rights, Dom Helder Camera Office,(Dom Centro de Direitos Humanos, Casa da Cidadania D. Helder Camara. Movimento Nacional de Direitos Humanos) in Araguaína, Tocantins, Brazil.
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How Human Rights Workers are Threatened for
Rescuing Slaves in Brazil
One form of Human Trafficking in Brazil involves luring poor workers away from their families with promises of high wages on large farms, ranches, and other rural businesses. This modern-day slavery is especially prevalent in the states of Maranhao and Tocantins. In this segment, human rights workers explain their work and threats to themselves and to slaves who attempt to escape. The human rights workers here explain how large ranch owners make death threats against them because they were taking legal depositions to present to government officials. In the days before this video was made, death threats were made against these people, which is why the video obscures their faces. They said: "Their lives were in the hands of God."
Catholic Relief Services is a partial funding source of the Center for Human Rights, Dom Helder Camera Office,(Dom Centro de Direitos Humanos, Casa da Cidadania D. Helder Camara. Movimento Nacional de Direitos Humanos) in Araguaína, Tocantins, Brazil.
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One form of Human Trafficking in Brazil involves luring poor workers away from their families with promises of high wages on large farms, ranches, and other rural businesses. This modern-day slavery is especially prevalent in the states of Maranhao and Tocantins. In this segment, human rights workers explain their work and threats to themselves and to slaves who attempt to escape. The human rights workers here explain how large ranch owners make death threats against them because they were taking legal depositions to present to government officials. In the days before this video was made, death threats were made against these people, which is why the video obscures their faces. They said: "Their lives were in the hands of God."
Catholic Relief Services is a partial funding source of the Center for Human Rights, Dom Helder Camera Office,(Dom Centro de Direitos Humanos, Casa da Cidadania D. Helder Camara. Movimento Nacional de Direitos Humanos) in Araguaína, Tocantins, Brazil.
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