Brazil is regarded as a model, because it has taken big strides in the fight against slave labor, affirmed Patrícia Audi, national coordinator of the International Labor Organization's (ILO) project for Combating Slave Labor in Brazil.

Monday, April 17, at a seminar in São Paulo, "From Cotton to T-shirts: How Companies and Consumers Can Exercise Their Social Responsibility," she observed that the problem persists in various productive sectors, such as livestock-raising, cotton, and soybeans.

According to Audi, the private sector made a significant advance in May, 2005, with the signing of the National Pact Against Slave Labor, in which it pledged not to purchase items produced with the employment of slave labor.

"With respect to cotton, we received the support of the Brazilian Textile Industry Association and of some enterprises that subscribed to this pact right away."

From the ILO's standpoint, she explained, the motives for companies to adhere to the pact are immaterial. What matters is that slave labor really be abolished.

The ILO undertook a dialogue with cotton textile companies interested in eliminating this type of labor. According to Audi, they made use of information based on the Ministry of Labor and Employment's "blacklist" of firms that acquire inputs derived from slave labor. Around 10% of the firms on the list, she added, are linked to the cotton textile sector.

Audi emphasized that consumers should also contribute to the fight against slave labor by identifying the firms that did not adhere to the pact and demanding that they get on board.

As well as demanding that the National Congress approve the Constitutional Amendment bill (PEC) providing for the expropriation of properties where workers submitted to slave working conditions are discovered.

Agência Brasil

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Ohhh yes... a great model....
written by Guest, April 18, 2006

...of a country that eliminated slavery officially in 1888 and still have slavery in 2006 and will have even more slavery in the next few years due to the large expansion of sugar cane industry in need of far more slaves for sugar cane cutters, knowing that around 40 % of sugar cane in Brazil is harvested manually !!!

Really a great model !
But ethanol being trendy, for the time being, the government will name the new slaves
"green workers" to show a positive image to the world !

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written by Guest, April 19, 2006

You can pass all the legislation you like, as well as form all the organizations you want, brazil afterall is FAMOUS for this. BUT, if you're not going to ENFORCE the legislation for ALL, what f**king good is it??

As I've stated time after time, they need to put this on the brazilian flag instead of "ordem e progresso",

Well, we have legislation, there's a law about that, the problem is in implementation!!!!


Can you say
IMPUNITY?!!

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written by Guest, April 19, 2006

The first paragraph in that article had me spinning too. How can one be a model, trying to tackel an issue that has been dealt with in most of the world for over a century?

I agree with both posters: It just sounds like more "pra inglese ver" to me.

As long as enforcement agencies are too terrified to investigate these remote regions, and large powerful farm owners, it will be a problem that will continue to plague Brazil well throughout this new century.

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SLAVERY IS PRIMITIVE AND DISGRACEFUL
written by Guest, April 19, 2006

Brazil could NOT be a model for anyone or any country - and the mere fact that Slavery still exists today and NOT in the USA is proof of this.

Since Slavery was suppose to be officially abolished way back in 1888 but this continued to the present day indicates - that the political act of abolishing slavery in 1888 was a 'thin veil of legality' of which Brazilians, since this time, have been living in an unatural culture of apathy.

This is morally WRONG and should NOT be tolerated anywhere in Brazil. Good Day!

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written by Scotter, August 05, 2009

The sad thing is that there are probably some slaves in the USA because of some slimy companies and black market tradings.
It is everyone's resposibility to abolish slavery completely now.

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