|
Brother Xavier Plassat, coordinator of Brazil's Land Pastoral Commission's Campaign to Combat Slave Labor, said that he considers it an advance that the Brazilian judicial system has condemned federal deputy Inocêncio Oliveira (Partido Liberal, Pernambuco state) for the degrading labor conditions in which 53 workers were found on lands he used to own.
The Maranhão Regional Labor Court imposed a fine of US$ 241.39 thousand (530 thousand reais) on the deputy, who is first secretary of the Chamber of Deputies' leadership commission. "It is a courageous step by the Labor Court system, following up on what inspectors caught in the act when they visited the properties," the friar told reporters in an interview. He recalled that "there was a time when these occurrences did not even warrant legal proceedings." He pointed out, however, that even now the penalties do not correspond to what the law determines in cases of rural workers submitted to slave conditions: "We have a hard time getting the courts to deal effectively with these violators. Nobody has ever been sent to jail for this crime, despite the fact that more than 18,000 workers have been rescued in the past ten years. Over 500 individuals responsible for abuses should have been convicted." Deputy Oliveira issued a note, Wednesday, February 8, claiming that the sentence he received is unconstitutional, since degrading labor is "not covered in the labor laws." For Brother Plassat, this argument "is a flimsy excuse, since the current version of Article 149 says that subjecting anyone to degrading labor conditions is considered slave labor. Degrading labor and slave labor are redundant." The friar was referring to Article 149 of the Penal Code, which characterizes as a crime against individual freedom: "reducing someone to a status similar to that of a slave, whether it be by subjecting him to forced labor or a relentless work schedule, subjecting him to degrading labor conditions, or in any way limiting his freedom of movement in consequence of debts incurred with an employer or employer's agent." The penalty, according to the Code, is from two to eight years in prison and a fine, in addition to the penalty for having committed acts of violence. The Land Pastoral Commission, which coordinates the Campaign to Combat Slave Labor, is associated with the Brazilian National Bishops Conference (CNBB). Agência Brasil
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.
A true shame.
No rule of law when one has money.
Corruption to the highest levels
Impunity is almost in the constitution, same for corruption, otherwise many should be in jail by now.
Even worse, what is not said in the article, that a landowner who used slavery, cannot even go in jail because there is no law on this subject. The only thinbg that happens is that the landowner get a fine, not even very often, then he he is on a black list, he will get more or less a few visits from officials looking if he doesnt have slaves again, he cannot sell his products to the government and he cannot borrow money at favored rates through the BNDES.
BUT THIS IS ONLY FOR 2 YEARS.
J U S T 2 Y E A R S !!!!!!!!
THEN HE CAN START ALL OVER AGAIN WITH SLAVES, GETTING LOANS FROM THE BNDES (CONTROLLED BY THE GOVERNMENT) and even sell his products to the government !
THAT IS AN INSULT TO DEMOCRACY, DEVELOPMENT AND TO HUMANITY.
BRAZIL IS A MEDIEVAL COUNTRY.
AND THEN LULA WANTS A PERMANENT SEAT AT THE U.N. !!!!!!
HE SHOULD CLEAN FIRST HIS OWN GREASY, STINKY AND DIRTY POLITICIANS, TO WHOM HE BELONGS
THE WORLD IS NOT UNITED WITH BRAZIL !!!!
BRAZIL DOESNT DESERVE A PERMANENT SEAT AT THE U.N BUT DESERVES RATHER TO BE EXPULSED FROM IT.
BRAZIL HAS ARCHAIC LAWS.
BRAZIL HAS NOT AND WILL NOT END SLAVERY.
BRAZIL HAS NO DOUBT FAR FAR MORE SLAVES THAT THE TRUNKED, FAKED AND MANIPULATED ESTIMATES. ON PURPOSE OBVIOUSLY.
BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENTS ARE NOT PEOPLE THE WORLD SHALL TRUST AND WE SHALL NOT EVEN DEAL WITH THEM. THEY BETRAY EVERYONE, STARTING WITH THEIR OWN CITIZENS.
THEY JUST PROMISE, PROMISE, PROMISE, PROMISE. BUT COMMITMENTS AND WILL, THERE ARE NONE.
BRAZIL THEN EVEN DO FORUMS TO EXPLAIN THE WORLD HOW TO REDUCE AND ELIMINATE....SLAVERY, POVERTY, HUNGER ETC ETC !!!!!!
NOOOOOOOOOO ! JUST A BUNCH OF CROOKS AND LIARS THESE BRAZILIAN POLITICIANS !
BRAZIL SOCIETY DESERVES A MUCH BETTER FUTURE.