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Article: ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS IN BRAZIL HAMPERED BY SLAVERY BENEFICIARIES AND THE LEGISLATURES THEY CONTROL.
- Article from:
- NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs
- Article date:
- September 17, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In Brazil today, at least 25,000 slaves labor under inhuman conditions. The real number may be double that. They clear the Amazon of its jungle cover for ranchers; they make pig iron in charcoal smelters for the US and international markets. Slavery flourishes in Brazil despite efforts of the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to free these people and prosecute those who enslave them. These are the findings of an as-yet-unpublished report of the Geneva-based International Labor Organization (ILO).
Brazil also fosters practices "analogous to slavery" by tolerating sweatshops in Sao Paolo where men, women, and children toil to produce cheap ...