2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

B R A Z I L
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remained lacking. In October 2006, President Lula
directed the creation of a national plan of action
against trafficking for all forms of exploitation, the
coordination of governmental anti-trafficking efforts
through the Secretariat of Justice, and the dedication
of funding for the government’s multi-sectoral
anti-trafficking efforts. Prosecutions and convictions
of trafficking offenders appeared to increase, and
the Supreme Court strengthened the hand of the
federal government in punishing slave labor through
a November 2006 ruling. The government should
increase prosecutions and convictions of traffickers,
and institute more effective criminal penalties for
forced labor trafficking.
Prosecution
The Government of Brazil made clear progress
through law enforcement efforts against transnational
and internal sex trafficking, though progress
in efforts to punish acts of forced labor was less
evident during the reporting period. Brazil does not
prohibit all forms of trafficking, though transnational
and internal trafficking for commercial sexual
exploitation is criminalized under Section 231 of
its penal code, which prescribes penalties of 6 to 10
years’ imprisonment, penalties that are sufficiently
stringent and commensurate with those for rape.
Brazil’s laws do not criminalize all aspects of trafficking
for labor exploitation, though forced labor
is criminalized under statutes against slavery that
prescribe penalties of one to three years’ imprisonment,
penalties that are not sufficiently stringent.
Brazil lacks a centralized collection and reporting
system for anti-trafficking law enforcement data;
therefore, no comprehensive data on trafficking
investigations, prosecutions, convictions, or
sentences were available for the reporting period.
Limited data, however, collected from several states
showed an increase in anti-trafficking efforts. A trafficking
prosecution in the state of Rio Grande do
Norte in 2006 resulted in the conviction of 14 traffickers,
an increase over the one conviction reported
for the country in 2005. The police reportedly initiated
at least 35 trafficking investigations in 2006.
Also during the year, federal police launched six
operations to curb international trafficking, which
resulted in the arrest of 38 people for international
trafficking in persons. After receiving anti-trafficking
training earlier in the year, federal highway patrol
officers in November 2006 arrested a woman in the
state of Sao Paulo for internal sex trafficking, marking
the first recorded arrest for internal trafficking
since it became a federal offense.
The Ministry of Labor’s Special Mobile Enforcement
Groups continued aggressive efforts to curb slave
labor in the remote Amazon, conducting 106 operations
on 206 suspected sites of slave labor in 2006.
Although there were no known convictions of slave
labor offenders, the number of civil actions against
practitioners of slave labor rose in 2006. Moreover,
in December 2006, the Brazilian Supreme Court
ruled that crimes related to the use of forced labor
fell under federal jurisdiction and that all forced
labor cases must henceforth be prosecuted in the
federal court system, settling an issue of jurisdiction
that had previously hampered prosecutions
and shielding these cases from pressure in state and
local courts. This new ruling has not yet been tested,
however. In March 2007, President Lula vetoed a
bill, passed by Brazil’s parliament, which would have
reduced the power of the Ministry of Labor inspectors
to determine culpability at worksites and impose
fines where slave labor has been found.
There were scattered reports of law enforcement
officials’ involvement in or facilitation of trafficking
in persons, though there were no reports of
investigations or prosecutions of official complicity.
In a high profile case of slave labor, involving the
2005 conviction of Federal Senator Joao Ribeiro for
forcing 38 workers to live in slave-like conditions,
the $341,000 fine imposed by the court in February
2005 was reduced by an appellate court in October
2006 to $35,500.
In 2006, Brazil issued a new regulation that requires
state financial institutions to bar financial services
to entities on the Ministry of Labor’s “dirty list,” a
public listing of persons and companies that have
been documented by the government as exploiters
of forced labor. The Ministry of Labor in August
2006 updated the “dirty list,” which contains 178
names of companies and individuals, including
Senator Joao Ribeiro. Slave labor, which is used in
the production of charcoal in primitive Amazon
camps, was the focus of a late 2006 international
news report, which alleged that this slavery is linked
to the production of Brazilian pig iron, a majority
of which is exported to the United States. Indeed,
several of the pig iron companies mentioned are
already on the Ministry of Labor’s “dirty list” for
documented slave labor practices.
Child Sex Tourism
Although comprehensive data is not available,
limited reporting indicates that police in various
tourist centers conducted a number of investigations
into the sexual exploitation of Brazilian children by
foreign pedophiles, who largely come from Europe
and North America. Sex tourism was prevalent in