“Nearly half of Brazil's rural land is in the hands of less than one percent of the population”,  18 January 2017

...Brazil has been urged to speed up land distribution to farmers to protect them from slavery after a landmark court decision ordered the government to compensate over 100 workers enslaved at a cattle ranch...Brazil ha[s]...fallen behind in the past two years in efforts to clamp down on modern slavery, a catch-all term to describe forced labour, debt bondage, sex slavery and human trafficking...[L]andless rural residentes...[are]...particularly at risk but the government...[is]...no longer publicising a "dirty list" of companies profiting from slavery and inspections of farms thought to be using forced labour had decreased. Campaigners hope to see renewed efforts to fight slavery after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled last month that Brazil must pay $5 million in compensation to about 125 workers treated like slaves at a ranch in the state of Para. "This decision is symbolic and very important," Antonio Carlos Rosa, a Brazil-based official with the U.N.'s International Labour Organization (ILO)...[said]..."The government will be responsible for paying compensation. This is new in Brazil...Distributing land to rural people is an effective way to break the vicious cycle that makes people vulnerable to forced labour..."...