Modern Slavery in Brazil
The main mechanism of enslavement in Brazil is through debt - the physical immobilization of workers on estates until they can pay off debts, which are often incurred through fraud. Workers from areas hit by recession are enticed into verbal contracts, and then loaded into trucks which transport them thousands of miles to work in dangerous conditions. On arrival the attractive wage rates promised to them are reduced, and then forfeited in order to pay for transport costs, food and working tools. As time passes, the workers' debts become greater and greater so that they have no possibility of leaving.
Caption: Sugarcane cutter, Bahia State.
Modern Slavery in Brazil