Brasília, 25 November 2022- The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Brazil, in partnership with the Secretariat of Justice and Human Rights of Pará (SEJUDH) and the Pan-American Development Foundation (PADF) organized the “I Seminar on Forced Labour in the Cattle Ranching and Gold Mining Production Chains in the State of Pará” aiming to train selected participants and members of the State Commission to Eradicate Forced Labour (COETRAE). The event took place in Belem, in the state of Para, from 8 to 10 November 2022.
The workshop was held in the context of “Project Tapajos: A Prevalence-based Project to Reduce Forced Labour in the Gold Mining Sector in the State of Pará” developed by UNODC, and the Project “Combatting Forced Labour in the Cattle Ranching Industry in Pará” developed by PADF, both funded by the Program to End Modern Slavery (PEMS). The programme is implemented by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (U.S. Department of State) and, since 2017, has been promoting initiatives to combat human trafficking by combining research on the prevalence of forced labour in different sectors with interventions to reduce human trafficking within specific countries.
The workshop brought together experts to debate the concepts and latest data on forced labour and human trafficking, share information on gold mining in the Tapajós region as well as cattle ranching in the state of Pará, and develop recommendations together with strategic actors in the state. The initiative sought to promote the strengthening of COETRAE in identifying needs and partners to improve local coordination.
Besides the presentations and round tables held during the three-day event, at the end of the workshop the teams conducted a practical exercise in which case studies of real situations of slave labour in the cattle ranching and artisanal mining sectors detected in the state of Pará were analysed. The exercise could contribute with practical guidelines and recommendations for COETRAE. The participants praised the importance of the event and recommended the realization of future similar initiatives.
The event was attended by national authorities actively engaged in the implementation of public policies aimed at combating slave labour in Brazil, namely Maurício Krepsky, Head of the Division for the Eradication of Slave Labour (DETRAE), Judge Suzy Elizabeth Cavalcante Koury - TRT8 (Pará and Amapá) and Judge Aline Pereira, Labour Judge at TRT 21, Valdiney Arruda, Auditor of the Regional Superintendence of Labour and Employment in Mato Grosso, and the public prosecutor, Herena Neves Mauês (MPPA). Researchers from the Federal University of Pará, Amazonas State University, and Western Pará Federal University also contributed to the debates, bringing the perspective of the academia and current data on the panorama of slave labour in the state of Pará.
