"Brazil's fight against slavery seen at risk with new labour rule-Under the new decree, labour inspectors will now be required to include a police report as evidence", 19 October 2017
...[C]ampaigners said...[the]..decree...is a major setback in combatting slave labour because it changes the circumstances under which slavery is defined, limiting it to a victim's freedom of movement...Rights groups estimate hundreds of thousands of people work in slave-like conditions on farms, sugar cane plantations and cattle ranches across Brazil's remote and jungle areas, as well as in urban factories and construction sites. "The violation of (human) dignity is the main point that characterises the Brazilian definition of slavery," said Dominican friar Xavier Plassat, who heads the Pastoral Land Commission anti-slavery campaign. "This isn't only a question of the violation of freedom but of negating dignity through degrading conditions and an exhaustive work day." Adilson Carvalho, who heads the national commission for the eradication of slave labour at Brazil's ministry of human rights, said it was not consulted about the changes...Brazil has about 2,000 labour inspectors who raid locations where slave labour is suspected, and more than 50,000 victims of forced labour have been freed in the past two decades...Under the new decree, labour inspectors will now be required to include a police report as evidence. Renato Bignami, an inspector with the ministry of labour, said the new rules heralded "extremely negative" changes. Federal and labour prosecutors have issued a joint recommendation to the government, saying the decree is illegal. They said if the government does not revoke the measure, prosecutors would mount a legal challenge...Campaigners say changes to Brazil's anti-slavery law are politically motivated ahead of a vote - expected within days - over the fate of President Michel Temer...