“Brazil: Inter-American Court Decision a Victory in Fight Against Slavery”, 27 January 2017

The ITUC has welcomed a call from the ILO’s Brazil office for land redistribution to combat forced labour in the country, following a landmark ruling by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights holding the government responsible for providing compensation to 125 slaves held at a ranch in Para State...[Fazenda Brasil Verde case]...Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said: “Powerful landholders are responsible for slavery in Brazil, and this judgement makes the authorities accountable for protecting workers from forced labour. With the government of Michel Temer rolling back labour laws and enforcement, even more people risk being trapped in forced labour. Meanwhile the perpetrators, including actual members of parliament, are escaping justice. Fair distribution of land and the full application of the rule of law are crucial to ending slavery in Brazil.”...In 2014, the agribusiness lobby succeeded in getting the Supreme Court to strike down the publication of a “dirty list” of companies profiting from slavery, and members of Brazil’s Congress who were prominent in the deposing of Rousseff face credible allegations of responsibility for slavery themselves...