A complaint is usually the gateway to revealing cases of work analogous to slavery linked to domestic services, which occur inside homes and involve victims with low schooling and little access to channels for initiating the investigation.
According to auditor Maurício Krepsky, head of the Inspection Division for the Eradication of Slave Labor, it is difficult to identify situations involving domestic activity if it is not through an initial report. “Usually the report is not made by the victim, it is someone who is outside and watching, so getting that information is extremely important.”
“Sometimes, [a vítima] does not have access to people or places where the report can be made. Sometimes, they are not even aware of the degree of exploitation to which they are subjected, because slave labor mainly affects people in great social vulnerability situations, says Italvar Medina, prosecutor at the MPT (Public Ministry of Labour).
From January to mid-May 2022, 495 people were rescued from situations similar to slavery, according to the Secretary of Labor Inspection. In 2021, there were more than 1,900.
According to Medina, who is the deputy national coordinator for the Eradication of Slave Labor and Combating Trafficking in Persons, there are cases in which the worker receives a false job offer to work in a place far from home. “When they arrive on site, the reality is different from what was promised, and sometimes they are not even aware of the minimum rights they should have.”
In domestic work, exploitation usually occurs from childhood or adolescence. “What stands out is that the victims are usually women and black people, people who were caught by the bosses at a very young age, still in childhood or adolescence, under the pretext that they would be taken to raise and be educated, and in practice end up subjected to domestic work without any remuneration.”
One of these cases was reported in the fifth episode of the podcast A Mulher da Casa Abandonada, entitled Other So Many Women. Madalena Gordiano was enslaved for 38 years, starting at the age of 8. For Krepsky, it was her rescue at the end of 2020 that motivated the increase in complaints in 2021.
“A large increase in cases of work analogous to slavery was identified in domestic services, where 27 victims were rescued in 2021, while in 2020 there were three workers found in this condition”, says SIT report.
How to identify work analogous to slavery?
Work analogous to slavery can be present in any sector, in urban or rural areas. According to Medina, most of the rescues in 2021 were made from coffee plantations, in rural areas, and from the civil construction and domestic work sectors, in urban areas.
The conditions that characterize work analogous to slavery are provided for in article 149 of the Penal Code. Work in degrading conditions, forced labor, exhausting working hours and situations that amount to debt slavery are recurrent.
It is not necessary for all aspects to be present; any of these situations can already constitute work analogous to slavery and, in case of suspicion, the complaint can be made through the Ipê System.
degrading conditions
There is denial of basic rights for the dignity of the worker. “He is not guaranteed a decent diet, many times he does not have access to potable water, to housing with the minimum quality and comfort, access to health and safety measures at work, there is no respect for rest, there is sometimes even no payment of remuneration”, explains Medina.
There are situations in which rural workers are rescued in canvas shacks, forced to look for their own food and drink water from streams and ponds.
Forced labour
Threats, physical aggression, restriction of the use of means of transport and retention of documents, such as migrant workers’ passports, are measures used to prevent or hinder the victim’s departure from the workplace.
exhausting journey
According to Medina, the exhausting journey lasts a long time and is so intense that it can lead to a total exhaustion of energies. “The worker cannot restore energy from one day to the next and, as a result, there may even be illness and death”, she says.
debt bondage
The employer leads the worker to constitute debts fraudulently. The employee is never able to pay off the false debt he would have contracted.
“So the employer, for example, charges his own protection instruments, charges the worker for groceries at overpriced prices, charges the means of transport for the worker to go to the farm, and with that practically all the money the worker earns reverts to back to the employer.”
When and how to make a complaint?
If you suspect that someone is being subjected to work analogous to slavery, report the situation on the Ipê System form: www.ipe.sit.trabalho.gov.br or in person, at the units of the Public Ministry of Labor or Regional Labor Superintendencies , by phone from the units or through Dial 100.
“The person doesn’t even need to use the word ‘slave labor’ if he doesn’t want to, he needs to describe the facts”, says Medina.
It is possible to report anonymously, but Krepsky emphasizes the importance of leaving at least one contact number: “Many people are afraid to report and identify themselves, but we need to get in touch with the informant at some point, even to ensure the efficiency of the tax action, sometimes having some detail that the person did not mention and we would need to know.”
The whistleblower’s data is confidential and is not disclosed, as is the very existence of the complaint and its content.
“By legal obligation, we cannot even say whether the tax action is the subject of a complaint, let alone reveal the source”, explains Krepsky.
Current conditions favor an increase in slave-like work
According to Medina, the current economic crisis may favor an increase in slave-like work. “With the increase in social vulnerability and food insecurity, we have people in a situation of greater social vulnerability, more likely to be subjected to situations of violation of human rights.”
The lack of labor tax auditors is also a reason for alert for the specialist, who points out that since 2014 there have been no public tenders for the vacancy, which jeopardizes inspection. “There are more than 1,600 vacant positions, it is almost 50% of the cases of labor tax auditors. There are fewer today than ten years ago”, says Medina.
“As the inspection of the work record itself does not take place, workers are more comfortable in breaching the legislation. In the end, this may even encourage the reappearance of slave labor itself.”
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