Complaints of domestic slave labor double after the release of A Mulher da Casa Abandonada

Complaints of domestic work analogous to slavery have increased by 123% since the launch of the A Mulher da Casa Abandonada podcast. A survey by the MPT (Public Ministry of Labor) shows that the monthly average increased from 7 to 16 complaints after June 8, reinforcing that the disclosure of rescue cases can influence the fight against contemporary slavery.

In the five-month period between January 1 and June 7, there were 36 complaints, 12 more than the 24 registered in the month and a half that followed the launch of the podcast.

In the state of São Paulo, complaints quadrupled, with the average rising from 0.6 to 2.66 per month.

The national coordinator for the Eradication of Slave Labor and Combating Trafficking in Persons (Conaete) of the MPT, Lys Sobral Cardoso, says that there is no certainty as to the reasons for the increase, but that the matter being on the agenda certainly had an influence.

​”The fact that the topic won the networks undoubtedly influenced this increase, which is very positive, in the sense of even encouraging society to appropriate the concept that slavery is a current topic, that exploitation still exists. and that it is very necessary that the inspection bodies receive complaints”, says Cardoso.

“Even because domestic slave labor is one of the most invisible forms of contemporary slavery”, says the prosecutor, who mentions that social tolerance and the fact that exploitation takes place inside homes make the situation more difficult to be caught or denounced.

She says that the repercussion given by the media is extremely important, and cites a case in which she recently worked, with Madalena Santiago, from Bahia. Cardoso reports that the media was instrumental in rescuing the maid, who lived 54 years of her 62 years in a regime analogous to slavery.

“When we went to interview Madalena and the neighbor who welcomed her when she left the place where she worked, they reported that when they saw the case of Madalena Gordiano, from Minas Gerais, in Fantástico, they understood that the cases were very similar, and her neighbor friend encouraged her to go to the Labor Attorney’s Office in Salvador. And that’s how it was done, and that’s when the teams got there.”

“Today she is already elderly, a person with all kinds of sequelae, but with hope of rebuilding her life”, reports the prosecutor.

Maurício Krepsky, head of the Inspection Division for the Eradication of Slave Labor at the Ministry of Labor, states that it is common to increase complaints in the days following the carrying out or disclosure of operations and also mentions the case of Madalena Gordiano, portrayed in the fifth episode of A Woman from the Abandoned House.

“Especially in cases of domestic slave labor, it is common to receive, in addition to the report of the situation, a report of the type ‘situation very similar to the worker in the article on Fantástico’, right at the time of Madalena”, he explains.

Krepsky also attributes to the great repercussion of the Madalena case the increase in rescues from 2020 to 2021. There were 27 victims rescued in 2021, while in 2020 there were three workers found in this condition, according to a report by the Undersecretariat of Labor Inspection (SIT).

Press must take care when reporting cases

Cardoso says that the press must take several precautions when reporting cases of contemporary slavery.

“It is important to understand that there must be respect, both for the person who was a victim and for the rule of law itself. There is a due process of law, and the person who exploited is also entitled, it is in the Constitution that they have the right to prove, to show elements of how the circumstance happened, so having that in mind is already a good way to go”, he declares.

According to her, care in dealing with the victim’s story has to be redoubled. “The person has already been through violence, so care has to be redoubled in the way of approaching, understanding that the person has gone through a lifetime sometimes of violence of various types, and also respecting that she manifests herself”, says the prosecutor.

“It’s difficult, because when you publicize it, you end up exposing the person, the violence they suffered, it’s inevitable.”

Regarding the exhibition, Krepsky recommends not disclosing the name of the rescued worker, if you wish, as Chico Felitti did when reporting the crime on the podcast A Mulher da Casa Abandonada without the victim’s name. “Often, they come out of the situation with some threats, some trauma, and it’s not worth putting him on display like that.”

“Each person will react differently to this violation of rights, some prefer to talk, others, after the rescue and repair of rights, prefer to put a stone on the matter.”​