abusesaffiliationarrow-downarrow-leftarrow-rightarrow-upattack-typeburgerchevron-downchevron-leftchevron-rightchevron-upClock iconclosedeletedevelopment-povertydiscriminationdollardownloademailenvironmentexternal-linkfacebookfiltergenderglobegroupshealthC4067174-3DD9-4B9E-AD64-284FDAAE6338@1xinformation-outlineinformationinstagraminvestment-trade-globalisationissueslabourlanguagesShapeCombined Shapeline, chart, up, arrow, graphLinkedInlocationmap-pinminusnewsorganisationotheroverviewpluspreviewArtboard 185profilerefreshIconnewssearchsecurityPathStock downStock steadyStock uptagticktooltiptwitteruniversalityweb
Article

30 Jan 2017

Author:
Leon Kaye, Triple Pundit (USA)

Brasil: Mércia Silva from InPacto talks about the struggle to combat forced labour & with other groups claim the “dirty list” is under attack

“Brazil’s Political Turmoil Endangers 20 Years of Progress on Forced Labor”, 11 January 2017

...To gain some perspective on how Brazil’s struggles have affected workers’ and human rights, TriplePundit spoke with Mércia Silva, executive director of the NGO InPacto (Nation Pact Against Slavery)...For once, with the “dirty list,” the Brazilian government had an initiative that actually was transparent and had impact. But in late 2014, the Supreme Court of Brazil ordered the nation’s Ministry of Labor to suspend any disclosure of the dirty list. One of Brazil’s leading construction industry associations filed a lawsuit in order stop the practice of revealing the hundreds of companies and individual employers inspectors proved were profiting from forced labor. In response, the labor rights advocacy group Reporter Brasil and its president, Leonardo Sakamoto, pressured the federal government to continue to make this list public — arguing that it is in the public’s best interest to know who has profited off slave labor. The Supreme Court reversed that suspension in March 2016. But activists including Sakamoto say the Labor Ministry has not updated the list since the suspension was put in place. And what Reporter Brasil and other organizations have been able to extract from freedom of information requests shows that the list is far less comprehensive than what has been released in the past...[T]he quest to stop slavery in any form...has plenty of opponents, such as several of the country’s leading business organizations and most powerful politicians – and include interests that were also in alignment to impeach former President...Rousseff...

[It refers to Cargill, Carrefour, JBS and Walmart]

Timeline