The invisibility of the black population in modern slavery: evidence based on conditions of social vulnerability

Baptista, Rodrigo Martins; Bandeira, Mariana Lima; Souza, Maria Tereza Saraiva de

doi:10.1590/1984-9250877

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Article • Organ. Soc. 25 (87) • Oct-Dec 2018 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1984-9250877 copy

The invisibility of the black population in modern slavery: evidence based on conditions of social vulnerability

A invisibilização do negro no trabalho escravo contemporâneo: evidências a partir das condições de vulnerabilidade social

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to identify the associations between the social conditions of vulnerability and the racial profile of modern slavery. It presents findings from qualitative research developed between 2011 and 2016 on the institutional and organizational mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of modern slavery in Brazil, based on the theoretical framework of Crane (2013), Bales (2004) and Datta and Bales (2013; 2014). From a methodological point of view, this study makes use of socioeconomic, geographic, sociocultural and social vulnerability indicators produced mainly by the reports published by members of the National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labor Institute (Instituto Pacto Nacional pela Erradicação do Trabalho Escravo - InPACTO) and the public sector. The article’s contribution centers on the incorporation of the variable race and color, indicating its relation to modern slavery, in addition to showing how contemporary slave labor coexists with the economically representative productive chains in Brazil, some of which are members of InPACTO.

Keywords:
Contemporary slavery; Vulnerability; Race; Skin color

Authors (Year)	Category of analysis	Proposition	Predictor variables of modern slavery
Bales (2004BALES, K. Disposal People: new slavery in global economy. Califórnia: Califórnia Press, 2004.); Datta and Bales (2013DATTA, M. N.; BALES, K. Slavery in Europe: Part 1, Estimating the Dark Figure. Human Rights Quarterly, v. 35, p. 817-829, 2013.; 2014DATTA, M. N.; BALES, K. Slavery in Europe: Part 2, Testing a Predictive Model. Human Rights Quarterly , v. 36, p. 277-296, 2014.); Crane (2013CRANE, A. Modern slavery as a management practice: exploring the conditions and capabilities for human exploitation. Academy of Management Review, York, v. 38, n. 1, p. 53, 14 Feb 2013.); Bourdieu (1989BOURDIEU, P. O poder simbólico. Lisboa, PT: Memória e Sociedade, 1989.; 1990BOURDIEU, P. El campo científico. In: BOURDIEU, P. Los usos sociales de la ciencia. Buenos Aires: Nueva Visión, 1990, p. 9-57.)	Socioeconomic context	The exploitation of slave labor, which occurs in contexts of high unemployment, chronic poverty and low schooling, stimulates the adoption of slave labor by business ventures.	Population density, MHDI and vulnerability
	Geographic context	The geographic isolation of the business, combined with the psychological, political and physical isolation of workers, stimulates the adoption of slave labor by business ventures.	Geographic isolation and people trafficking
	Sociodemographic context	Inequality naturalizes coercive labor relations, and thus stimulates the adoption of slave labor by business ventures.	Race and color
	Regulatory context	The absence of an effective regulatory context capable of imposing sanctions on the exploitation of labor under slavery-like conditions stimulates the adoption of slave labor by business ventures.	Inspections and corruption

Brazil	ILO
Term
Work analogous to slavery	Forced or compulsory labor
Legislative Framework
Articles 149, 197, 203 and 207	Convention n. 29 - 1930 and n. 105 - 1957
Elements of Slavery
Lack of freedom, exhausting working hours and degrading conditions	Coercion, punishment, penalties, threats, imposition of work
Argument delegitimizing the Brazilian concept
Abusive interpretation of the definition of degrading labor conditions	-

States	HDMI General	HDMI Income	HDMI Education	Percentage and Number of individuals by race or color					N. of operations	Freed workers 1999 to 2015
States	HDMI General	HDMI Income	HDMI Education	White	Black	Brown	Indigenous	Yellow
Brazil Av.	0.727	0.739	0.637	45%	9%	45%	0.0001%	0.01%	1798	50660
MA	0.639	0.612	0.562	1064371	241966	3862395	2394	7187	145	3227
PA	0.646	0.646	0.528	1558645	616683	5915825	87548	14269	399	12523
BA	0.660	0.663	0.555	3004647	3043122	9059812	91482	21272	82	3105
AC	0.663	0.671	0.559	172219	62190	537108	32938	1927	24	196
PE	0.673	0.673	0.574	3044387	766157	5488300	39138	21512	22	726
AM	0.674	0.677	0.561	785697	165994	2896635	96326	7808	29	439
CE	0.682	0.651	0.615	2530016	364692	5979370	29576	19870	19	535
RO	0.690	0.712	0.577	557390	143189	1061556	7293	3513	49	896
TO	0.699	0.690	0.624	353312	142596	1018409	761	4307	120	2938
MT	0.725	0.732	0.635	1086843	269300	1898680	7882	11384	232	5533
MS	0.729	0.740	0.629	1203191	135645	1286687	12371	21208	70	2578
MG	0.731	0.730	0.638	8825684	2217569	9787525	47955	21157	173	4558
GO	0.735	0.742	0.646	2593851	518128	3470649	8589	39334	132	3790
RS	0.746	0.769	0.642	9021918	626170	1553608	48850	14142	23	302
PR	0.749	0.757	0.668	7613046	380200	3049544	15361	128361	73	1123
RJ	0.761	0.782	0.675	7541131	2525723	6435387	28020	47488	39	1143
SC	0.774	0.773	0.697	5830697	139727	845523	10750	12181	64	856
SP	0.783	0.789	0.719	27399505	3122843	13329148	103058	540755	83	1529
PI	0,646	0,635	0,547	692896	329844	2180547	3378	-	41	863
AL	0,631	0,641	0,52	901696	296366	2131168	9439	6292	8	799

Categories of analysis	Summary of the research	Predictors of modern slavery
Socio-economic context	The global population has tripled over the last 50 years thanks to rural migration to the cities in Brazil and the rest of the world, intensifying the supply of people seeking work and income, and lowering wages in rural areas and urban centers. The urbanization rate in the 1960s was 57% in the Southeast region, reaching more than 92% in 2010. The states of Maranhão, Piauí and Pará present the lowest rates of urbanization in the country: 59%, 67% and 70%.	Population density
	Production chains seek to lower production costs through the reduction of labor costs, without investing in decent working conditions.
	Formation and organization of cheap labor with mechanisms of substitution, cheap production costs and cheap sales prices - formed an institutionalized system combined simultaneously with low remuneration: outsourcing. Denunciation to CADE for unfair pricing in the cattle farming chain.
	School attendance, lack of employment and income, as well as the lack of resources for health are related to the incidence of slave labor in Brazil. Brazilian slaves tend to originate from states with the country’s lowest MHDI indices.	MHDI
	The state of poverty places individuals in direct line of fire with the luring mechanisms used by ‘gatos.’ Begging, hunger, malnutrition, earthquakes and migration can intensify the vulnerability of Brazilian and foreign workers. Certain vulnerable regions (N and NE) coincide with slave labor.	Vulner-ability
Geographic context	[...] “I’m a Northeasterner, I was born in a small town. There it is rare to find good job opportunities. So it was normal to see family and friends leave for other states in search of opportunities. In 2011 it was my turn to head south. A man appeared in my town to recruit people, it was a project for a leading construction firm, he said, good work, good wages, and travel costs, accommodation and meals were covered. I needed [the work] and accepted it. After two days in a coach, I arrived in São Paulo. And there the conversation changed. [...] I thought about giving up and returning home, but I had no money for the ticket and was obliged to stay” (MTE, 2016bMTE. Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego. Trabalho em situação análoga à escravidão. Depoimento 2. 2016b. Available on: <http://trabalho.gov.br/trabalhoescravonao>. Acessed on 20 mai 2016. http://trabalho.gov.br/trabalhoescravona... ). [...] “Pedro, 13 years old, lost count of the number of times he felt cold, soaked by the Amazonian storms, underneath the yellow tarpaulin tent that served as home during the week. Before dawn he would gulp down black coffee thickened with manioc flour, grab the 14 kilo chainsaw and begin work transforming the Amazonian forest around him…” (OIT, 2007MPT. Ministério Público do Trabalho. OIT. Organização Internacional do Trabalho. Observatório digital do trabalho escravo no Brasil. 2017. Available on: <https://observatorioescravo.mpt.mp.br>. Acessed on 01 mar. 2018. https://observatorioescravo.mpt.mp.br... , p. 28)	Geographic isolation
Geographic context	[...] “I didn’t have an easy life. At 14 I ran away from home and my violent stepfather. Since then I’ve worked hard, I always wanted to improve. That’s why I didn’t think twice when a Brazilian appeared in La Paz. [...] I had two options, pay the R$450 for the trip or work for him for a year for no money. Without any option, I submitted [to the latter]. I learnt to sew. I worked every day from 7 in the morning to 11 at night” (MTE, 2016cMTE. Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego. Trabalho em situação análoga à escravidão. Depoimento 3. 2016c. Available on: <http://trabalho.gov.br/trabalhoescravonao>. Acessed on 20 mai 2016. http://trabalho.gov.br/trabalhoescravona... ). CASE D [...] “immigration is extremely high. We do not know how many Paraguayans, Bolivians and Peruvians have already entered. Even Haitians, they caught 200 Haitians trying to cross the border to work in the construction projects for the Olympics” (ILO COORDINATOR, 2013, verbal information). [...] “we’re about to host two major events in Brazil, the World Cup and the Olympic Games, which are already attracting [workers], including… coming from there in Mato Grosso, and there are already reports of people arriving here in Brazil from outside the country, and even migrating internally to work in these construction projects” (ILO COORDINATOR, 2013).	Human trafficking
Cultural context	[...] “there is a lot of resistance in the Brazilian congress, a lot of resistance in various sectors of Brazilian society, to deepening affirmative action policies, but clearly, a dividing line needs to be drawn between public policies and State and civil society actions against slavery. It needs to be recognized that slaves in Brazil are mostly black. Denying this fact is to fly in the face of reality” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2011). Verbal information [...] “look, we cannot accept that a load of blacks and Africans board an overcrowded boat to try to reach Sicily and there the boat sinks and they drown, so it’s a human rights issue, what we have to do to solve the problem is close the border” (COORDINATOR OF REPÓRTER BRASIL, 2014).	Race and color
Regulatory context	[...] “in an operation in Goiás, GEFM released 128 workers in two farms. The coordinator recounts that the inspection met with resistance despite the presence of the Federal Police. The farm managers did not reply to the questions, ignored them and addressed them aggressively. They mocked the inspection. Two civil police officers went to the location and even started interfering in the inspection work until they were removed by the team from the Federal Police. The mobile group confirms that the ‘gato’ has two brothers in the Civil Police (COSTA, 2010COSTA, P. T. M. Combatendo o trabalho escravo contemporâneo no Brasil: o exemplo do Brasil. Organização Internacional do Trabalho: Brasília, 194p. 2010., p.132).	Corruption and inspection

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[TFN1] Source: Elaborated by the authors