Fighting Slave Labor in Brazil

PARÁ, Brazil — Lured by $30 for his family and the promise of more money from a recruiter, Paulo left his home in northeastern Brazil in February for a job clearing bush in the Brazilian Amazon. Days later, he found himself with nine others in the middle of an unfamiliar forest, sleeping in a stable, eating rice and beans, and drinking the same dirty water given to farm animals.

For 19 days, they cleared some 148 acres of bush, while another group of workers applied pesticides to coconut trees without the benefit of protection. When it came time to get paid, they received nothing, not even a ride to the nearest town, some 10 miles away. They are some of the estimated 40,000 laborers working under conditions akin to slave labor on the fields of Amazonian Brazil.

It's been more than a century since Brazil banned slavery, but forced labor continues today as growing economic pressure mounts to develop the Amazon's vast agricultural frontier. Like Paulo, most victims are poorly skilled, illiterate, landless workers from the outskirts of cities. Lured from the impoverished northeastern region of the country by traffickers, known as gatos, who are seeking labor for ranches, farms and charcoal plants, they migrate to remote areas on the agricultural frontier, far from their families and out of reach of official inspectors.

These workers are subjected to a life of slavery — indebted for their food, travel, equipment and even accommodations, which are often nothing more than a shack with no electricity and no running water. By way of physical and psychological coercion — threats, attacks and even armed surveillance — they are forced to work until their debt is paid off.

Trails of Liberty

CRS Brazil is working to eradicate slave labor through the U.S. Department of Labor-funded program Trails of Liberty (Trilhas da Liberdade), which operates in four northern states where recruitment or use of slave labor is common. Together with a range of partners, CRS helps form a network that offers social and legal support, alternative means of income and increased awareness of the problem.

"The practice of slave labor is one of the many paradoxes that exist in Brazil," says Luis Claudio Mattos, chief of party for Trails of Liberty. "It is a country of two extremes: the enormous concentration of wealth and land ownership coexisting alongside abject poverty. You get the creation of a second-class citizenry which is subjected to the will and power of the elite."

As part of the project, four centers provide psychological and social rehabilitation to victims and legal advice for workers looking for back wages and compensation. The centers, which also pass reports of abuse to the authorities, are building a database of slave labor cases.

CRS is also working with potential victims to find alternatives for income generation so that they are less likely to be recruited by gatos. Communities in Maranhão, for example, are receiving training in producing, packaging and selling mandioc (cassava) derivatives like tapioca to sell in local markets. In Piauí, communities are participating in a fish harvesting project that will help them sell tilapia at local markets.

Key to the project is an education and awareness campaign. The effort brings together civil society groups, public authorities and workers in all four states to educate communities on how to recognize and avoid slave recruitment. It also encourages victims and their families to report offenses to local and federal authorities.