Rescue from work analogous to slavery in Brazil has reached its peak in 12 years
The higher number of inspections during the Lula government is a contributing factor to the increase in rescues.
The Ministry of Labor rescued 1,443 people living in conditions analogous to slavery from January 1st to June 14th, 2023. This is almost double the total of 771 rescues carried out in the entire first half of 2022.
Registrations grew especially after the release of workers found in degrading situations in wineries in Rio Grande do Sul, in February.
To explain the evolution of the numbers, specialists point to different factors, among them the change of the federal government, the labor reform, and the wide repercussion of the most recent cases.
Luiz Felipe Brandão, secretary of Labor Inspection at the ministry, says that the change in government had a mobilizing character: "With greater publicity of our work, complaints, and investigations have increased, generating a greater number of rescues".
Inspection has increased since the beginning of the Lula administration. Until June 14, 2023, 174 actions were carried out, against 63 in the same period of 2022.
The 1,443 rescues are the highest result in the last 12 years, not surpassing the first half of 2011, when 1,465 workers were found in conditions of contemporary slavery.
Translated by Cassy Dias