‎Brazil News

 

 

According to the MTE,  in 2021, 1,959 people in conditions analogous to slavery were rescued in the country. 

 

The most recent MTE report  indicated a total of 2,575 people subjected to conditions analogous to slavery were rescued during 2022. Most of these workers were rescued in rural areas (73%), mainly in sugarcane cultivation. Regarding their social profile, 83% were self-declared black/brown.

 

By March 2023, 523 workers in situations analogous to slavery had been rescued .  In labor courts, the number of cases judged on the subject, in all instances, in the last 5 years, according to data from the TST , was 10,482. And the number of lawsuits grew by 41% between 2020 and 2021. 

 

These numbers reiterate what has been said about the modern condition of slavery, experienced mainly by black people and immigrants who are victims of human trafficking. 

 

In fact, the recent case of 207 workers in a situation analogous to slavery in the Bento Gonçalves region in Serra Gaúcha , hired to harvest grapes.  It was a typical situation of debt bondage, with employees subjected to exhausting workdays, fed with food unfit for consumption and living in unsanitary conditions.

 

Reports of slave-like work in domestic situations are also not uncommon. There are countless examples of court rulings condemning employers who subjected employees to this type of condition. 

 

An emblematic episode reported by Fantástico  occurred in 2020, when a woman was rescued from domestic work analogous to slavery after 38 years.

 

In another, a woman remained in a situation of slavery for 45 years in Bahia. The news resonated after she was rescued and confessed to a reporter that she was afraid to hold the journalist's hand because she was white . 

 

In 2022, CNN reported the case of an 84-year-old woman rescued in Rio de Janeiro, after 72 years of slave-like work for the same family, since she was 12 years old. 

 

On April 3, pp, the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, filed a lawsuit with the STF to ensure that the crime of labor analogous to slavery does not expire.   

 

The STF has also defined as a topic of general repercussion ( Topic 1,158 ) the issue that discusses whether work can be configured as analogous to slavery according to the reality of the place where it is performed. The topic also aims to establish standards of proof to give greater weight to those produced in labor inspections. 

 

Will it shine?

 

The fact is that the data presented above contradict the desire to celebrate the 135th anniversary of the signing of the Lei Áurea (Golden Law). The gravity of situations like these, coupled with racism - both veiled and explicit - confirm that the country's centuries-old slave culture cannot be undone by putting pen to paper. 

 

Some will say that this is a bit of an exaggeration. But consider the following situation: in the year of grace 2023, a man was convicted of racial abuse by the TRF-4 for posting an advertisement for the sale of "slaves" on social media. 

 

Obviously, without the famous signature of the Princess Regent, society would not have moved towards the expansion of rights.  With the Lei Áurea, a step forward was authorized, as the state's view of its needs became positive.

 

The fight, however, continued.  And continues. 

 

Source:  GÓES, Luciano. The translation of Lombroso in the work of Nina Rodrigues, racism as a structuring basis of Brazilian criminology. Rio de Janeiro: Revan, 1st ed., 2016.

 

 https://www.migalhas.com.br/quentes/386302/lei-aurea--135-anos-da-pretensa-abolicao-da-escravidao