Brazil fight against slave-like labour conditions

A total of 2,270 workers in Brazil were rescued from "slave-like" conditions in 2011, the government says.

An official "dirty list" of employers using slave labour was extended to include 294 companies and individuals.

It is the highest number since officials began compiling the list in 2004.

Most of the victims were working on farms and ranches, but the Labour Ministry said it was also finding slave-like conditions in urban areas.

Brazil defines slave labour as work carried out in degrading conditions for less than the minimum wage.

Many were victims of debt slavery, particularly in the Amazon region, where poor workers are lured to plantations where they incur debts to employers they can never pay off.

In 1888 Brazil became the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, freeing more than a million slaves of African descent.

Sources:
BBC News