The Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday (8) a bill that establishes priority in Justice for processes that deal with cases of work similar to slavery.
Project 702/2023, reported by deputy André Janones (Avante-MG), provides for an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code. Currently, Brazilian legislation determines priority, in all judicial instances, to actions that investigate the commission of a heinous crime
In Brazil, anyone who subjects someone to a condition similar to slavery can be sentenced to a sentence of two to eight years in prison, in addition to paying a fine.
What is slavery-like work?
Current Brazilian legislation classifies as work analogous to slavery any forced activity – when a person is prevented from leaving their place of work – carried out under degrading conditions or exhausting working hours. Any case in which the employee is constantly monitored, in an overt manner, by his employer is also subject to reporting.
According to the National Coordination for the Eradication of Slave Labor (Conaete), exhaustive working hours are any work that, due to circumstances of intensity, frequency or exhaustion, causes harm to the physical or mental health of the worker, who, being vulnerable, has his will annulled and his dignity affected.
Degrading working conditions are those in which disregard for the dignity of the human person is established by the violation of the worker’s fundamental rights, especially those relating to hygiene, health, safety, housing, food, rest or others related to human rights. personality.
Another form of contemporary slavery recognized in Brazil is debt bondage, which occurs when an employee has their movement restricted by their employer, on the grounds that they must settle a debt in money.
A report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), Walk Free and the International Organization for Migration, released in September 2022, highlights that, worldwide, around 28 million people were victims of forced labor in 2021. The majority of cases (86%) occur in the private sector, and almost one in eight people who were subjected to this type of rape is a child (3.3 million).
From January to March this year, 523 people were rescued from slavery-like work.
The Public Ministry of Labor provides, on its website, a channel for registering reports of crimes that violate workers’ rights. Notification can be made anonymously.
