Child slavery: invisibility and the Brazilian reality

Abstract

The fight against forced labour and child labour are remarkable deeds by Brazilian Labour Inspection over the last few decades. The fight against forced labour in Brazil has implemented good practices such as the Special Mobile Inspection Group, the Dirty List, and unemployment insurance for rescued workers. Unfortunately, there is an intersection in the exploitation of forced labour and child labour that requires adaptations of existing public policies for the purpose of repairing labour rights, providing temporary assistance, and preventing new cases. At this intersection, child labour appears as a kind of slave labour, whose protective measures for children subjected to forced labour deserve special attention. Any analysis that does not visualize the big picture of this social problem leads to the invisibility of child slavery and reinforces the vulnerability indicators for labour exploitation.