Labor inspectors Eratóstenes de Almeida Gonçalves, João Batista Lage and Nelson José da Silva, as well as their driver, Ailton Pereira de Oliveira, were assassinated on Jan. 28 during an inspection of a bean farm in Unai, Minas Gerais, 160 kilometers from Brasilia, the Brazilian capital.

While the amendment has to be voted on a second time in Congress, possibly in late September, the results of the initial vote point to overwhelming approval. In the first vote, the amendment was supported by 326 lawmakers, with only 10 voting against it and eight abstaining.

Aton Fon, a member of the National Network of Justice and Human Rights and a lawyer from the Landless Movement (MST), said the amendment is "another battle won, but the law needs to be applied. We have extremely progressive laws, but they are not applied. I do think, nevertheless, that an important step has been taken against slave labor."

Slavery used to maximize profits

Brazil holds the record in Latin America for keeping slavery on the books longer than any other country — more than 300 years. Slavery was officially abolished with the Áurea Law in May 1888.

The fact that forced labor is illegal has not had much influence on many large landowners.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the landowners using slave labor know what they are doing. "These are not people who are unaware of the legislation or that they are committing a crime. They are landowners in Brazil’s modern agricultural industry and they move large sums of money. They are involved in this crime only and exclusively for capital exploitation and maximizing their profits."

Inspectors with the Labor Ministry say slave laborers live in extremely inhuman conditions. They lose contact with their families, drink the same filthy water as cattle, sleep on the ground or in nets strung in trees, are constantly threatened by foremen and carry the scars of whippings on their backs. They are treated the same as during the days of slavery, having to thank their master for the bread — and beatings — they receive.

The Catholic Church’s Pastoral Land Commission, which has been lobbying against slave labor for years, states that "the number of enslaved workers in Brazil is approximately 25,000, but because it is difficult to detect, the number could be double or even as high as 100,000. The victims are normally young adult males who are illiterate and alcoholics whose only source of wealth is their labor."

International recognition for Brazil’s work

Despite this picture, Brazil achieved international recognition in 2003 for its eradication of slave labor. Working with the ILO and other organizations, Brazilian authorities rescued 4,932 people from slave labor last year, almost the same number as the total removed in the period 1995 to 2002. Between 1995 and 2003, a total of 10,726 victims of slave labor were rescued.

The improved results are due in part of the creation in March 2003 of the National Plan for the Eradication of Slave Labor. The plan resulted from the work of a number of organizations and institutions, including the Pastoral Land Commission, National Confederation of Farm Workers, Federal Police Force, Human Rights Secretariat, Brazilian Bar Association, and the Ministries of Labor and Employment, Agricultural Development, and Social Assistance, as well as the ILO.

Patrícia Audi, the ILO’s representative in Brazil and coordinator of the National Plan, says that "Brazil is one of the few countries that recognizes the existence of the problem and, as such, a US$1.6 million technical assistance plan was initiated with the Brazilian state and civil society in April 2002. At that time we began discussing actions with the government and these actions are backed by the political will of the government, which means a lot has been accomplished in 2003."

Audi says that Brazil is the first country in the world to launch a national plan against slave labor and "has created an international commission and congressional front to deal with the issue. It has also pointed the finger at 52 companies that use slave labor and requested that these companies be prevented from receiving public resources. More was done last year than in the eight years of the struggle, which is why Brazil is now an international reference point."