Brazil launches campaign against human trafficking

A number of Brazilian states are implementing awareness and prevention efforts as part of the National Week of Mobilization for Combating Trafficking in Persons. The goal is to keep Brazilian nationals from being lured into human trafficking through profitable job opportunities which prove to lead to slave-like labor conditions and sexual exploitation.

Alessandra Macedo, deputy director at the Justice Department of the Ministry of Justice, described human trafficking as one of the biggest human rights violations. Despite the difficulties in raising valuable data on the activity, she noted, a significant increase has been observed in the number of cases reported.

This growth may come as a result of the prevention campaigns launched across the country, Macedo argued. As a positive contribution, she mentioned the 2nd National Plan for the Confrontation of human Trafficking, an initiative devised by the Brazilian government.

“The data are from 2013, but we realized that, between 2011 and 2013, there was a considerable leap, from 30 to 300 reports made through the Disque 100 [hotline], for instance,” she pointed out.

Figures

The latest document on human trafficking published by the Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows that a total of 514 reports were investigated in Brazil from 2005 to 2011.

Of this total, 344 inquiries are related to slave labor, whereas 157 are cases of international trafficking in persons, and 13 probes revolve around domestic human trafficking, a category with a considerably low number of reports.

The efforts to raise awareness about human trafficking and the range of situations that may lead to this sort of crime are key to addressing the problem, said Sister Rosite Milesi, director at the Migration and Human Rights Institute.

“The situation remains invisible; it's not noticed very often by society. We must work on prevention measures and build up awareness in society about the importance of reporting such cases,” she argued.

UN

The initiatives implemented during the National Week of Mobilization for Combating Trafficking in Persons are slated to end on Saturday (30), the World Day Against Human Trafficking in Persons, instituted by the UN.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira