VZCZCXRO9577
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #0124 0301827
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 301827Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3438
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 7346
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 4850
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 6051
RUEHGT/AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA 0363
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 6814
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 4088
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 2132
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 2690
RUEHTG/AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA 0150
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 9021
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7205
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 3458

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRASILIA 000124 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2019 
TAGS: EIND ELAB ETRD PHUM SOCI BR
SUBJECT: COMMENT ON DOL DRAFT LIST FOR TVPRA 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 3075 
     ¶B. BUENOS AIRES 50 
     ¶C. BOGOTA 275 
     ¶D. SAO PAULO 432 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Stephen Liston, reasons 1.4 b/d 
 
¶1.  (U) This is an action request, please see paragaph five. 
 
¶2.  (C)   Embassy Brasilia appreciates the opportunity to 
comment on the draft TVPRA list of products using child 
and/or forced labor.  The draft list of Brazilian products is 
only partially accurate and Mission is concerned that this 
blunt instrument will not reflect the relative size of the 
problem and therefore may unfairly brand an entire product 
even when only a small percentage of production uses child 
and/or forced labor.  Nor can it adequately reflect trends 
that are especially relevant to certain sensitive products 
such as ethanol derived from sugarcane (ref D).  We also 
share the concerns expressed by Buenos Aires (ref B) and 
Bogota (ref C) and would like to see more detailed 
information in the final list to give context about the size 
of the child and forced labor problems.  It will also be 
important to distinguish between those countries in which 
governments are taking serious steps to correct child and 
forced labor problems and those where no such effort is being 
made. 
 
¶3.  (C)  Publication of the list can be expected to provoke a 
negative reaction from Brazilian authorities who may suspect 
an underlying trade protection motive on our part.  For this 
reason and in view of acute Brazilian sensitivity to outside 
criticism, Mission will need to brief Brazilian officials on 
the final list before it is made public to mitigate the 
damage. 
 
¶4.  (C)  Mission has credible information that child and/or 
forced labor is used to produce the following: 
 
Beans (soy) Child Labor and Forced Labor 
Cattle Child Labor and Forced Labor 
Ceramics Child Labor 
Charcoal Child Labor and Forced Labor (Note: as it pertains 
to charcoal for the production of pig iron. End note.) 
Coffee Child Labor 
Cotton Child Labor and Forced labor 
Footwear Child Labor 
Manioc/Cassava Child Labor 
Pineapples Child Labor 
Rice  Child Labor 
Sisal  Child Labor 
Sugarcane  Child Labor and Forced Labor 
Talcum (mineral)  Child Labor 
Timber  Forced Labor 
Tobacco  Child Labor 
 
(Note: Labor Ministry statistics for several of these 
products suggest low numbers of children may be involved. 
End note.) 
 
Mission has credible information that child labor is also 
used in gold and tin mining and to harvest Brazil nuts. 
 
We cannot confirm that child and/or forced labor is used to 
produce the following and will seek additional information: 
 
Bananas Child Labor 
Bricks Child Labor 
Coffee Forced Labor (Note: an NGO expert on forced labor told 
us there are very few forced labor cases associated with 
coffee.  End note.) 
Corn Child Labor 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Action request: Mission requests information from 
DOL about sources used to develop the list of Brazilian 
products.  Mission will continue to research products on the 
list and will provide additional findings. 
 
Sobel 
SOBEL