Eradicate Slavery in Brazil Today Campaign

This campaign uses information and communication technology (ICT) to engage citizens around the world in advocacy around a human rights issue. Visitors to a dedicated page on the WITNESS website are presented with information about the issue of contemporary slavery in Brazil (both by WITNESS and through visiting the websites and/or resources of other organisations working on this issue - click here to access these resources). They are also provided with (free) access to an email message (which can be edited) designed to communicate to Brazil's President Lula that slave labour must end - and how. After presenting background/statistics on the issue, the email message notes that "[u]pon taking office, you took on the commitment to eradicate slavery in Brazil and significantly boosted efforts and resources towards this goal"; however, the thrust of it involves sending him the message that Brazil is not fully complying with the commitments it has made through national and international agreements, including the "National Plan for the Eradication of Slave Labor," the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations conventions, and the friendly settlement in the Jose Pereira case at the Organization of American States. The letter then goes on to urge Lula to take specific actions to eradicate slave labour, such as pressuring Congress to approve a constitutional amendment that would allow slaveholders' land to be confiscated and turned over to the agrarian reform programme, supporting the Supreme Court in developing a policy based on its decision that slave labour cases may be tried in federal courts, and providing economic opportunities for workers. By entering their name and other details, visitors to this page may edit this letter, or simply send it along, to lend their voice to challenge what WITNESS characterises as Lula's past (in)action on this issue, and to spark change.

In addition, WITNESS has teamed up with the Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT) and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) to produce a 17-minute video called "Bound by Promises: Contemporary Slavery in Rural Brazil." This video tells the story of men who are taken to isolated ranches, only to find that they have been lured into debt bondage. WITNESS provides a synopsis of the video: "Forced to do backbreaking work and live in overcrowded shacks with no running water, armed guards remind the workers that those who try to run away may be killed. With no way out, they toil in the hope of buying back their freedom...The few criminal charges ever pressed remain at a standstill, languishing in the judicial system because of a debate over whether they should be tried in state or federal courts. Rampant impunity combined with a lack of economic opportunities continues to force tens of thousands of men to enter the cycle of slavery each year. (Click here to view a 4-minute video excerpt from "Bound by Promises."). Both the full-length video and the excerpts (in both English and Portuguese) are available on Google Video.

Rights.

According to WITNESS, every year more than 25,000 workers are enslaved by landowners in rural Brazil, mostly in the Amazon region. The organisation indicates that the fruits of this labour end up in the United States and Europe in the form of steel, meat, soy, sugar cane, etc. - making slavery "an issue that touches each and every one of us. In fact, it is likely that you have a product in your home that may have involved slavery." WITNESS explains that, "Despite the fact that Brazil pledged to eradicate slave labor by the end of 2006, there is still a long way to go. Current inspections barely cover half the complaints received from runaway slaves, and although 4,000 workers are released each year, no landowner has ever been imprisoned for the crime of slavery. The few criminal charges ever pressed remain at a standstill because of a debate over whether they should be tried in state or federal courts. Rampant impunity combined with a lack of economic opportunities continues to force tens of thousands of men to enter the cycle of slavery each year."