MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian authorities rescue thousands from slave-like conditions

This year alone 482 police inquiries were opened to tackle slave-like work

Slightly under 7,000 people have been rescued by Brazilian authorities from slave-like conditions over the past two years, according to a report released Monday. In 2023, a total of 3,240 victims were freed against 2,587 the previous year. Last month, 934 rescues were carried out, including that of a 94-year-old woman.

Slave-like work is defined as work in which the person is subjected to exhausting workdays, degrading working conditions, forced labor or debt bondage. Such a crime is punishable with imprisonment from two to eight years and a fine, in addition to the penalties stemming from any physical violence committed in the process.

Brazilian Federal Police (PF) Forced Labor Repression Division Chief Henrique Oliveira Santos said that si far in 2024, a total of 482 inquiries have been launched nationwide regarding this type of crime. Most of them were focused on the State of Minas Gerais (86), followed by Sao Paulo (66), and Pará (47).

Labor Ministry's André Roston, the General Coordinator of the Surveillance for the Eradication of Slave Labor and Human Trafficking Squad, one of the perpetrators' profiles most repeated was linked to household labor. It was in this scenario that a 94-year-old woman was rescued after 64 years of work with no labor benefits. She was detected looking after a 90-year-old person with Alzheimer's disease. At that time, she was granted a place to stay and a minimum salary.

In another case, a 52-year-old household worker had been taken out of an orphanage at the age of 11, with provisional guardianship granted to the family, but which never became definitive. She worked from Monday to Saturday, from 7 am to 9 pm. The employing family bought a house for the worker, in addition to paying R$ 50,000 (about US$ 8,900) for damages.

Between July and August, some 593 workers were released from conditions analogous to slavery in 15 states and the Federal District (Brasilia), it was also reported. A total of 72% of them worked in the agricultural sector, 17% in industry and 11% in trade and services.