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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000234 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/BSC AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2019 
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KFRD KWMN ELAB PREF ASEC SMIG BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: DIFFICULT TO PROSECUTE TIP CASES; BUT 
PROGRESS ON CHILD LABOR: A REPORT FROM PARA 
 
REF: A. 08 BRASILIA 01686 
     ¶B. 09 BRASILIA 00233 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Steve Liston. Reason 1.5 (d) 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Socioeconomic conditions in the state of 
Para are among the worst in Brazil, and as a result, the 
state acts as a source for slave and domestic child labor and 
trafficking in persons cases.  Belem international airport is 
a major transit point for Trafficking in Persons (TIP) 
networks on their way to Suriname and Europe, although 
prosecuting them is made difficult by unwilling witnesses and 
lack of cooperation from Suriname.  Child sexual exploitation 
and domestic child labor are also significant problems in the 
state, and to a large extent, are culturally accepted, a 
situation the NGO community and the state government have 
begun to reverse.  The government is beginning to tackle 
seriously the forced labor problem, but the slow, uneven 
progress with regard to combating both TIP and forced labor 
in Para exemplifies the difficulties Brazil faces in 
confronting these two problems.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Catching them is easy, prosecuting is the hard part 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶2. (U) Emboff traveled to Para in late September 2008 to 
discuss trafficking in persons, forced labor, and 
exploitation of women and children (ref a reported on drug 
trafficking and public security; ref b reported on TIP issues 
in Maranhao).  Accounting for less than four percent of 
Brazil's population, Para's seven million inhabitants are 
scattered across a land area the size of California and Texas 
combined.  The state borders Suriname, Guyana, French Guyana, 
the Brazilian state of Amapa, and Atlantic in the north, and 
extends into the Amazon forest in the west and cleared 
farmland in the east.  The capital Belem, a port city in the 
north and a two and half-hour plane ride from Brasilia, is 
home to only about a sixth of the state's population. 
 
¶3. (C) According Para-based Federal Prosecutor Ubiratan 
Cazetta, the state of Para is a major route for trafficking 
of persons to international destinations.  The most used 
route is through the Belem International Airport which has 
direct flights to Paramaribo, Suriname, several times a week. 
 Women are recruited from around and outside the state to 
work as prostitutes around the mines in Suriname, although a 
contingent of them do so in the belief that legitimate jobs 
await them. According to Cazetta, "if you go to the airport 
on the days there are flights to Suriname, it is quite easy 
to spot the women who are being trafficked."  The problem for 
authorities, according to Cazetta, is that it is difficult to 
prosecute TIP cases involving international travel.  "We have 
to prove there was sexual exploitation, and that only comes 
once they go overseas; it is even more difficult when the 
destination is Suriname, rather than Europe, because we get 
little cooperation from the Surinamese authorities. 
According to Cazetta, sometimes the women who are prostituted 
in Suriname make their way back to Brazil, yet remain 
unwilling to testify, and in fact, sometimes, go back due to 
lack of opportunities for them in Brazil.  Indeed, Izaura 
Miranda (protect) chief of staff to the National Secretary of 
Justice, told Poloff that she has visited Suriname several 
times to learn about TIP issues, and was convinced that many, 
but not all, Brazilian women who travel work there as 
prostitutes do so voluntarily, knowingly, sometimes making 
repeat trips after returning home, and cannot be considered 
TIP victims. Despite the difficulties, Cazetta indicated that 
his office, along with the Federal Police had been working on 
improving cooperation with Suriname.  Since they have the TIP 
routes well mapped out, if they could get succeed in 
improving cooperation from Suriname, they would be able to 
prosecute more cases, noted Cazetta. 
 
----------------------------- 
Abuse of women and children 
----------------------------- 
 
BRASILIA 00000234  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶4. (C) Echoing Cazetta's views that the TIP problem is 
pervasive, Dr. Ana Celina Hamoy, of the Center for the 
Defense of Children (CEDECA-EMAUS) -- an NGO that runs its 
own tipline for victims of violence, conducts research, 
interventions, protects children in vulnerable situations, 
runs programs and public awareness campaigns against domestic 
child labor, trafficking in persons, and sexual violence 
against children -- told poloff that her organization did a 
survey of more than 300 prostitutes who work in Belem and 
found that 270 had been "invited" to work abroad. 
 
¶5. (C) Dr. Hamoy added that Para's problems go much farther 
than TIP and involve a culturally-based acceptance of 
exploitation and degrading treatment of women (Note: 
According to the National Government's Special Secretariat 
for Women's national hotline to report abuses against women, 
Para has the fifth highest rate of incidents in the country. 
End note.).  According to Dr. Hamoy, CEDECA-EMAUS conducted 
research in Marajo Island -- an island twice the size of 
Maryland in an archipelago on the mouth of the Amazon river 
with over 40 riverine communities that are often only 
accessible by boats -- where the investigators witnessed at 
least ten cases of sexual exploitation of minors, including 
some cases of recruiting for trafficking purposes to Spain, 
French Guiana and Suriname, in only three days on the island. 
 The researches, according to Dr. Hamoy, witnessed girls aged 
12 and 17 who were pimped without any intervention by local 
authorities.  In the towns of Portal and Breves, it was easy 
to see young girls congregated around bars and ports areas. 
In Portel, in an area near the river, she recounted, there is 
a row of rooms used 24 hours a day for prostitution 
frequented by fishermen, boatmen, and other workers, where it 
was easy to spot young girls entering the rooms with older 
men.  According to Dr. Hamoy, these actions take place in 
broad daylight in front of police officers, in classrooms, 
and public plazas. 
 
¶6. (C) In Portel, the trafficking networks can operate with 
impunity, Dr. Hamoy noted.  For recruitment, one tool used is 
infiltrate public schools as students and then recruit 
vulnerable young students.  According to Dr. Hamoy, the 
researchers were able to interview a 13 year old girl who was 
recruited by two other girls (ages 15 and 16) in the school 
to have sex with two assemblymen --  a case that remains 
under investigation.  The report writers also interviewed two 
girls in Portel of 14 and 15 who were pimped by two other 
fellow women students. 
 
¶7.  (C) According to Dr. Hamoy, domestic child labor is also 
a significant problem in Para.   Although she could not 
specify numbers, Dr. Hamoy indicated CEDECA-EMAUS conducted a 
survey in a small subset of Belem and was able to identify 
600 girls who worked as domestic employees. 
 
---------------------------- 
Changing cultural norms 
---------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) Asked about state efforts to combat these problems, 
Dr. Hamoy noted that there is cultural resistance.  For 
example, the issue of domestic child labor is seeing as 
benefiting the child worker, as well as the family of the 
child workers, whose burden of caring, feeding, and clothing 
is lifted.  But, Dr. Hamoy observed, through the work of her 
organization and others, and increasingly, the state 
government, public campaigns are having an impact, and showed 
Poloff leaflets from two campaigns, with the themes, "Child 
Labor is not a right" and "Domestic Child Labor: Pretending 
not to see the problem is to be part of it," which 
highlighted abusive practices and focused on the damage done 
to these girls who often entered prostitution and drug abuse, 
and received no pay and little education.  Dr. Hamoy noted 
that that the impact of these efforts of recent years has 
been noticeable, adding that she used to go on radio call-in 
shows and "people would berate me for criticizing what people 
considered an act of charity towards these girls and 
 
BRASILIA 00000234  003 OF 003 
 
 
families."  Now, she adds, "even if people still use domestic 
child labor, at least there is shame in it, because the 
callers don't call to criticize anymore when I'm on radio." 
The state is getting better, too, she observed.  "I can now 
regularly get appointments to meet with state and local 
government officials and they have sponsored our public 
awareness campaigns."  But, she added, it is still dangerous 
for us and "we could use more help.  We often provide 
protection for witnesses and sometimes we need protection 
from state authorities, as we are frequently threatened." 
(Note: The CEDECA-EMAUS facility had a high fence with barbed 
wire, multiple locked gates, and an intercom with a security 
camera.  Before poloff departed, Dr. Hamoy checked the camera 
to make sure there was no one near the entrance as a security 
precaution.  End note.) 
 
--------------- 
Forced labor 
--------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) On forced labor, Dr. Hamoy noted that the state 
government has been engaging much more since September 2007, 
when it created the State Commission for the Eradication of 
Slave Labor in Para (COETRAE/PA), hosted a seminar on slave 
labor in October of that year, and announced the State Plan 
for the Eradication of Slave Labor (PEETE/PA) in January of 
¶2008.  (Note: poloff contacted COETRAE/PA to arrange a 
meeting, but was not successful. End note.) Dr. Hamoy noted, 
however, that the scale of the problem is significant, and 
that the state had limited resources to do anything about it. 
(Note: In 2007, Para was the state with the most freed slave 
laborers, with 1,947.  In 2008, Para was second, behind 
Goias, with 811.  Of the roughly 29,000 workers liberated in 
Brazil from 1995-2008, about 10,000, or 35 percent, were in 
Para. End Note.)  The problem, according to Dr. Hamoy (and 
echoed by Cazetta), stems in part of the vastness of the 
state, with a land area roughly the size of France, Germany, 
and Italy combined.  Large parts of the state have no 
government presence and are hard to reach.  Although there 
has been, according to Dr. Hamoy, a growing tendency of the 
local governments to engage on this issue, it is still 
largely left the Federal Government, whose focus, however, is 
in repressing these practices.  According to Hamoy, the NGOs 
pick up the slack from the state government when it comes to 
prevention and providing services to the freed workers, to 
avoid their being forced back into slave-like labor, which 
they often see as their only choice. 
 
-------------- 
Comment: 
-------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) The slow, uneven progress with regard to combating 
TIP and slave labor in Para exemplifies the difficulties 
Brazil faces in confronting these two problems.  Far from the 
reach of Brazil's central authorities and federal campaigns, 
efforts to stem these practices must overcome the effects of 
poor economic conditions, a widely scattered population, 
limited state- and federal-level resources and presence, and 
longstanding cultural norms.  The good news is that there are 
indications the state is moving in the right direction, 
albeit slowly, to confront child and forced labor, and to a 
lesser extent the TIP problem in the state.  Public awareness 
campaigns highlighting abusive cases of domestic child labor 
are creating a sense of shame, changing long-accepted 
cultural norms.  The fact that the state government 
established a commission and created a state plan to combat 
slave labor suggests that it is ready to tackle the problem 
in a concerted and institutionalized fashion.  Nonetheless, 
the state can and should do more to tackle violence and 
exploitation of women and children.  In comparison to 
Maranhao (see ref b), Para, with a larger female population, 
lags behind its neighboring state in adopting policies to 
protect women from violence and exploitation.  End comment. 
 
SOBEL