Fighting modern day slavery
![After being stranded in the Amazon rainforest for six months by a labour contractor, Regivaldo Pereira da Silva went to claim his wages. He was accused of being a thief and thrown in jail. CAFOD partner CPT helped bring his case to court [Sue Branford]](/var/storage/images/media/cafod/images/latin_america_caribbean/brazil/regivaldo_pereira_da_silva/6532-1-eng-GB/regivaldo_pereira_da_silva_medium.jpg)
Regivaldo Pereira da Silva was left stranded in the Amazon rainforest for six months by his employers. When he went to claim his wages, he was accused of being a thief and thrown in jail
Regivaldo Pereira da Silva spent four years in primary school before starting to work with his father, slashing-and-burning land for one of the fazendeiros [big landowners].
Regivaldo was born and bred in Redençãõ, a town in the state of Pará in the south of the Amazon basin. This region has experienced great change over the last few decades.
The tropical forest has been cleared to pave the way for cattle farming and now, increasingly, for the cultivation of soyabeans, an important export product.
The "agricultural frontier", as they call it in Brazil, has moved deeper into the forest and this is where Regivaldo had been working.
"A gato [labour contractor] came to my home," he said. "He offered my wife and me what seemed a good deal. He would buy food for us, take us to the fazenda [farm] and leave us to clear a piece of land. He said that the work would only take a couple of weeks and he offered 3,000 reais (about £700)."
It was a long journey – a day in a truck to the remote town of São Félix do Xingu and then another day and a half in a boat, deeper into the forest.
Stranded in the forest
The gato left them stranded in a very isolated region, accessible only by boat. He promised to be back in two weeks but still hadn’t returned after six months.
Regivaldo and his wife were going hungry and, worse still, the rainy season began. Water began to seep into the rough shack, with no walls and a palm-leaf roof, that they were living in.
Almost all rural labourers trapped in bonded labour started work as children. They didn’t get a proper education, so they haven’t the skills to find an alternative job
They were saved by the fortuitous appearance of another boat, driven by a woman, who fed them and took them back to São Félix do Xingu. When Regivaldo went to claim his wages, the gato had him thrown in jail, claiming he was a thief.
Defending workers' rights
![Fernando de Paiva Gomes, labour lawyer [Sue Branford]](/var/storage/images/media/cafod/images/latin_america_caribbean/brazil/fernando_de_paiva_gomes/6553-1-eng-GB/fernando_de_paiva_gomes_medium.jpg)
Back in Redenção, Regivaldo sought out Fernando de Paiva Gomes, the only lawyer who will accept labour cases.
Working closely with CAFOD partner CPT (the Catholic Church’s Pastoral Land Commission), Fernando works tirelessly for a tiny salary.
Fernando says about 10,000 rural workers in Brazil go through a similar experience each year to the one faced by Regivaldo.
Can this be called slavery? CPT lawyer Father Henri des Roziers thinks so. "It’s a form of bondage analogous to slavery," he says.
"The worker is treated in a completely inhumane way. He’s left deep in the forest, without resources. He’s at the mercy of the gato."
"We do a lot of awareness-raising work, holding workshops and telling workers about their rights. And when they seek us out, as they often do, we put them in contact with a good lawyer."
Improving situation
"The situation is gradually improving," says Alison Sutton, the author of a book on slavery, who now works for Unicef in Brasilia.
"Almost all rural labourers trapped in bonded labour started work as children. They didn’t get a proper education, so they haven’t the skills to find an alternative job.
"But there are still 2.4 million children working illegally. That’s far too many. Education and rigorous implementation of the law – these are the key measures for ending slavery."
Regivaldo, at least, seems to be heading for a better future. With Fernando’s help, he went to court and won the case, plus he got himself a job in a shop in Redenção, and enrolled in night school.
"I love studying," he said. "And I’m getting good marks."
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