Slave labor: more than 2 were rescued in Brazil in 2024
Tax audits were conducted by the Ministry of Labor and Employment.
Brazil Agency - Throughout 2024, the Ministry of Labor and Employment carried out 1.035 inspection actions to combat slave-like labor. The operations resulted in the rescue of 2.004 workers subjected to degrading conditions, ensuring the payment of R$7.061.526,03 in labor and severance pay.
In a statement, the ministry reported that the fight against slave labor last year reached a total of 5.741 workers, including those whose rights, even if not characterized as a situation of contemporary slave labor, were verified and ensured by the work of labor inspectors.
The areas with the highest number of rescued workers were building construction (293), coffee cultivation (214), onion cultivation (194), land preparation, cultivation and harvesting services (120) and horticulture, except strawberries (84).
“These data reveal a significant increase in the number of workers rescued in urban areas, which represented 30% of the total number of workers in conditions analogous to slavery identified in 2024,” the ministry highlighted.
Housework
At the domestic level, the labor inspectorate carried out 22 specific inspection actions in 2024, resulting in the rescue of 19 workers.
Inspection actions
The states with the highest number of tax audits throughout 2024 were São Paulo (191), Minas Gerais (136), Rio Grande do Sul (82), Paraná (42), Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro (both with 41 each).
Regarding the number of people rescued, the highlights were Minas Gerais (500), São Paulo (467), Bahia (198), Goiás (155), Pernambuco (137) and Mato Grosso do Sul (105).
Understand
In the fight against slave-like labor, the Special Mobile Inspection Group relies on the participation of the Labor Inspectorate, which coordinates the actions.
“When we go to the victims’ rescue camp, we support them, together with other institutions, such as the Public Ministry of Labor, the Federal Ministry, the Federal Public Ministry, the Public Defender’s Office of the Union, the Federal Highway Police”, explained the general coordinator of Inspection for the Eradication of Labor Analogous to Slavery and Human Trafficking of the ministry, André Esposito.
“After identifying and rescuing victims, we activate an entire network for post-rescue, for the victim’s next step, for institutional care in reference to other public policies.”
Every worker rescued by a labor inspector is, by law, entitled to Unemployment Insurance for Rescued Workers, paid in three installments of one minimum wage each. The benefit, combined with the guarantee of labor rights demanded from employers, seeks to provide basic conditions for the worker to start over.
“Today, we are internationally and formally recognized by the UN [United Nations], by the International Labor Organization, as a model of good practice for the implementation of public policy to eradicate slave labor.”
“So, we are really far from needing to reinvent the wheel, in terms of public policy design, because we need to maintain and reinforce the efforts that are being made, which have yielded important results for eradication efforts and for providing care and guaranteeing the rights of victims,” concluded Esposito.
