“More than 300 Brazilian companies busted for modern-day slavery – campaigners”, 15 February 2016

…Brazil's ministry of labour has fined 340 Brazilian companies for using slave labour…A "dirty list" published by the rights group Reporter Brazil this month revealed that…[such]…companies from May 2013 to May 2015 employed people working in slave-like conditions, including in sweatshops producing clothes, in farms, cattle ranches, timber companies, construction and charcoal production. Leonardo Sakamoto, head of…Reporter Brazil, said his organisation, which works to expose slave labour, used the Freedom of Information Act to uncover the names of companies and individuals that were found to have slave labour by federal labour inspectors…"We don't know yet if children were enslaved. We are still analysing the list. And we can't say yet if the construction companies are involved in building works for the Olympics," Sakamoto…[said]…Brazil imported more African slaves than any other country in the Americas…While slavery was formally abolished in 1888, there are still pockets of Brazil…where working conditions are similar to those in the 19th century…[The]…government has made addressing slavery a top priority…In 1995,…[it]…officially recognised the active use of slave labour in the economy….[And]…the Labour Ministry launched a Special Mobile Enforcement Group that works with prosecutors and police to find and raid farms, construction sites and other companies suspected of employing slave workers…[A]round 50,000 people have been freed…[A]…key weapon in Brazil's fight against slavery has been the so-called "dirty list" of employers published by the labour ministry…Blacklisted employers are blocked from receiving government loans and have restrictions placed on sales of their products. If after two years a company pays all its fines and proves that it has improved working conditions, it is removed from the list. But in late 2014, Brazil's Supreme Court ordered the Labour Ministry to suspend the release of the slave labour blacklist…Reporter Brazil is lobbying to make the list public again…[and is using]…freedom of information laws to publish the information…