VZCZCXRO8883
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0602/01 2861824
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131824Z OCT 09
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9682
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0814
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 4439
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 9280
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 3665
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 0050
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 2977
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0048
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 4157

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SAO PAULO 000602 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC, DRL, INR/IAA, INR/R/AA 
USAID FOR LAC/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI SCUL PREL BR
 
SUBJECT: SAO PAULO EXPERTS DETAIL CONTINUING HUMAN RIGHTS 
CHALLENGES 
 
REF: (A) 09 SAO PAULO 309 (B) 09 SAO PAULO 182 (C) 08 SAO PAULO 119 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary: Forced labor, lack of land titles, Trafficking in 
Persons (TIP), the pace of justice and poor prison conditions 
emerged as recurring themes in an extensive round of recent meetings 
with Sao Paulo (SP) human rights experts.  While contacts cited 
improvements --a rise in the number of anti-discrimination lawsuits, 
efforts to promote sustainable mining, and SP state-level judges' 
response to anti-TIP training -- they also underscored continuing 
challenges in Brazil's human rights situation.  In particular, they 
cited the confluence of environmental damage and forced labor in the 
Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal and discrimination against 
Afro-Brazilians.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Brasilia Laboff and Sao Paulo Poloff met with the following 
NGO representatives from the Sao Paulo human rights community from 
September 30 to October 2: Leonardo Sakamoto, Reporter Brazil (RB, 
anti-forced labor); Damiani Mistier, ETHOS (corporate social 
responsibility); Amarillo Bolito, Social Observatory (OS, forced 
labor); Daniela Perutti, Pro-Indigenous Commission (CPI); Heidi Ann 
Cerneka, National Prison Ministry (NPC); Analia Ribeiro, Sao Paulo 
State anti-TIP Office; Marco Antonio Zito Alvarenga, Brazilian Bar 
Association's Afro-Brazilian and Anti-Discriminatory Issues 
Commission (CONAD); Priscilla Siqueira, Service for Marginalized 
Women (SMM, anti-TIP), and Marcos Fuchs of Conectas (a general human 
rights NGO that focuses on access to justice and prison conditions). 
 The meetings provided some encouraging news as well as an overview 
of serious ongoing concerns in the human rights community. 
 
RURAL HOTSPOTS: DEFORESTATION/FORCED LABOR GO HAND IN HAND 
 
¶3.  (U) Clashes between indigenous communities, locals and 
agribusiness continue in Brazil's interior, particularly in the 
Amazon (in the states of Amazonas and Para), Cerrado(Mato Grosso, 
Tocantins, Piaui) and the Pantanal(Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do 
Sul), according to Pro-Indigenous and Reporter Brazil reps (Ref A). 
Baixo Xingu in Para state, for example, ranks first in Labor 
Ministry releases of workers from "slave-like conditions" in 
agriculture, according to Reporter Brazil's Leonardo Sakamoto. 
 
A MULTI-STAGE PROCESS 
 
¶4.  (U) Both Reporter Brazil and Pro-Indigenous representatives 
described how deforestation and forced labor go hand-in-hand, laying 
the conditions for exploitation of unsettled rural regions.  First, 
big agriculturalists bring in forced labor to cut down the forest 
and plant soy and rice.  This "softens up" the land for later use as 
pasture for cattle ranching.  In response to this challenge, 
Pro-Indigenous has launched educational campaigns in indigenous and 
Afro-Brazilian (quilombo) communities to teach them to not only how 
to cope with environmental changes, such as erratic rainfall, but 
also how steps they can take to prevent further damage from 
deforestation. 
 
RUMBLINGS IN THE AUTO SECTOR AND BAD NEWS IN BAUXITE 
 
¶5.  (U) Contacts told Laboff and Poloff that forced labor remains a 
problem in two other areas: the auto manufacturing supply chain and 
aluminum mining.  Child labor is frequently used in the production 
of charcoal, used to make pig iron, according to RB's Sakamoto and 
Social Observatory's Amarildo Dudu Bolito.  NGO leaders complain 
that the auto industry is "in denial" about this issue.  Sakamoto 
said he had raised this question with U.S. auto manufacturers (Ford, 
General Motors, and Chrysler) during a recent visit to the United 
States.  They referred him to Brazilian authorities, who did not 
respond.  Only Mercedes Benz has shown a willingness to address the 
issue, according to Bolito.  Forced labor also occurs in bauxite 
mining in Para and Maranhao states, according to OS.  Some companies 
are reexamining their practices.  Bolito said that the Alcoa-owned 
Juruti mine in Para, for example, has led in promoting sustainable 
mining that minimizes environmental damage. 
 
DOUBLE WHAMMY: LAND TITLES/TIP AND AFRO-BRAZILIANS 
 
¶6.  (U) According to CPI's Daniela Perutti, Brazil hosts roughly two 
thousand quilombo (Afro-descendants of escaped slaves known in the 
U.S. as maroon) communities who find their greatest challenge in the 
lack of documentation for their lands.  Clear property titles are 
often these communities' first step in receiving public services 
 
SAO PAULO 00000602  002 OF 003 
 
 
(electricity, education, health centers).  Brazilian law recognizes 
the quilomobolos' (as inhabitants are known) rights to obtain legal 
title to their land holdings by working through the National 
Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA).  Despite 
this, many communities still have not gotten either federal or state 
land titles.  At the same time, agricultural interests, like the 
Landowners Movement (Movimento com Terra) backed by Senator Valdir 
Collato from Santa Catarina, have vigorously challenged the 
quilombos' land claims. 
 
 
¶7.  (U) Due to their poverty, CPI told Laboff and Poloff, that 
quilombo communities are also targets for human traffickers.  Maroon 
women and girls are trafficked and prostituted inside Brazil.  Both 
NGOs and the government have been attempting to reduce the amount of 
child prostitution on the highways between Sao Paulo and Curitiba 
where forty thousand vehicles pass daily. 
 
¶8.  (U) Despite unequal access to employment, education, legal and 
health services, several NGOs cited the increased number of 
anti-discrimination lawsuits brought against businesses in labor 
courts as a key area of progress on race issues.  According to 
Mistieri of ETHOS and Marco Antonio Zito Alvarenga of CONAD, there 
were only nine such lawsuits between 1951 and 1996, but now 356 such 
cases are pending, including cases of religious discrimination. 
TIP: LEGAL TRAINING/ EDUCATION 
 
¶9.  (U) Brazil still needs specific anti-TIP legislation, according 
to Analia Ribeiro of SP State's anti-TIP office.  Nonetheless, 
recent changes to the penal code (which raise fines for forced labor 
violators, define victims more broadly and recognize trafficking 
within Brazil as a crime) make the offense easier to prosecute. 
Anti-TIP activists are pushing a draft TIP law they hope to present 
to Congress.  In the meantime, Sao Paulo State's TIP office has 
focused on training judges.  Ribeiro noted that the state judges are 
more willing to prosecute TIP cases under existing law than their 
federal counterparts, who believe that the law is currently too 
vague to have a successful prosecution. 
 
¶9.  (U) Meanwhile, the NGO community is using public education to 
fight TIP.  SMM works with academia, state/federal government and 
other NGOs to design strategies for TIP-prevention campaigns. 
According to SMM's Siqueira, 83 percent of trafficking victims from 
Brazil are female (the majority of African descent) and 80 percent 
are trafficked for sexual exploitation.  Brazil is also a 
destination country for trafficked women and girls from Bolivia, 
Peru, Paraguay and Korea.  Many foreign female workers who find 
employment in the garment industry of Sao Paulo are also often 
sexually exploited. 
 
JUSTICE DELAYS, HORRIFIC PRISON CONDITIONS 
 
¶10.  (U) Contacts underscored that the right to a speedy trial does 
not exist for many Brazilians.  In cases of "minor crimes" like 
low-level drug trafficking, petty theft and robbery, the accused are 
held an average of three months before going before a judge, 
according to Conectas' Marcus Fuchs.  For homicides, they can be 
held up to three years.  Heidi Ann Cerneka of the National Prison 
Ministry (NPC) stated that the problem is exacerbated by the fact 
that many impoverished Brazilians cannot get legal assistance. 
Conectas runs a program to link accused persons with lawyers.  In 
addition, the group is working to foster a pro-bono culture among 
Brazilian lawyers, who generally do not embrace the concept of 
offering free services.  Finally, both Fuchs and Cerneka complained 
that almost all of Brazil's prisons and jails are overcrowded and 
substandard, with inadequate provisions for hygiene, medical 
attention or rehabilitation.  Both experts cited Espirito Santo, Rio 
Grande do Sul and Rondonia as states with the worst facilities. 
 
 
COMMENT: SOME PROGRESS BUT SIGNIFICANT HURDLES REMAIN 
 
¶11.  (U) Many Brazilians still suffer from a variety of human 
rights-related problems.  The Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal, where 
deforestation and forced labor dovetail as part of a tug-of-war 
between local populations and agribusiness, are a particular 
concern.  In addition, Afro-Brazilians face multiple challenges. 
The experts cited them as victims in every kind of exploitation 
discussed (forced labor, lack of land titles, TIP, poor access to 
legal assistance, etc.), a fact that only underscores the importance 
 
SAO PAULO 00000602  003 OF 003 
 
 
of the U.S.-Brazil Joint Action Plan for the Elimination of Racism 
(JAPER).  Contacts overwhelmingly agreed it will take a combination 
of targeted government action, civil society engagement, and shifts 
in cultural attitudes to address Brazil's most serious lapses in 
human rights. 
 
¶12.  (U) This cable was coordinated/cleared by Embassy Brasilia. 
 
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