A fact sheet on forced labor in the Latin American region, inclusive of statistics and an outline of the ILO’s actions against it

Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work

International Labour Office

English

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Cornell University ILR School 
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Forced Labor 
January 2005 
Forced Labour in Latin America 
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work 
International Labour Office 
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Forced Labour in Latin America 
Abstract 
A fact sheet on forced labor in the Latin American region, inclusive of statistics and an outline of the ILO’s 
actions against it. 
Keywords 
America, Bonded, Catherwood, Compulsory, Cornell, Economic, Exploitation, Forced, Global, Globalization, 
Globalisation, Human, ILO, ILR, Industrial, International, Labor, Labour, Latin, Law, Legal, Legislation, 
Library, Organization, Organisation, Portal, Principals, Relations, Report, Rights, School, Standards, 
Trafficking, University, Work, Workers, Workplace 
Comments 
Forced Labour Facts 
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/forcedlabor/19 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/forcedlabor/19 
Forced Labour in Latin America
OVERVIEW
In Latin America and the Caribbean today, several governments are tackling forced labour in
earnest. Brazil has taken strong measures against forced labour in agriculture and in remote logging
camps. The government of Brazil officially acknowledged the existence of forced labour at the ILO
in 1995.  Since then, it has addressed the problem with high visibility.  A National Action Plan against
Slave Labour has been implemented since March 2003.
Recently, a number of other Latin American governments have decided to confront forced labour,
notably in their agricultural sectors. Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay have taken important steps to
develop, jointly with workers' and employers' organizations, new policies to combat forced labour.
KEY STATISTICS
• There are an estimated 1.3 million forced labourers in Latin American and the Caribbean,
out of a global total of 12.3 million;
• 75% of forced labourers in Latin America are victims of coercion for labour exploitation,
while the remaining victims are either in state-imposed forced labour or in forced
commercial sexual exploitation;
• 250,000 forced labourers, or 20% of the total number in the region, have been trafficked,
either internally or across borders;
• The estimated profit derived in Latin American and the Caribbean from trafficked forced
labour is an estimated US$ 1.3 billion. 
FORMS OF COERCION AND RECRUITMENT
Substantial numbers of mainly indigenous agricultural workers are in conditions of debt bondage,
mostly as a result of wage advances made to workers by private labour contractors. Factors
which make indigenous peoples in remote areas particularly susceptible to coercive recruitment
and debt bondage include a weak state presence, low investment in educational services, poor
literacy and numeracy, slow implementation of land reforms as well as the lack of official identity
documents, rendering people "invisible" to national authorities. 
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Declaration on Fundamental Principles 
and Rights at Work WORK IN FREEDOM
ILO field research on forced labour and debt bondage in rural areas has documented the
following situations:
• Agricultural "slave labour", mainly in the state of Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon region. The
term "slave labour" refers to degrading work conditions and the impossibility of leaving the
farms due to alleged debts and the presence of armed guards;
• The enganche and habilitacion labour systems, based on wage advances in Bolivia's
agriculture, in particular in tropical areas of Santa Cruz, the northern Amazon, and the
Bolivian Chaco;
• Forced labour in the Amazon basin of Peru, both with recruited workers in logging camps
and with isolated indigenous communities;
• Discrimination and employment conditions of indigenous people in the cattle farms of the
Chaco region in Paraguay.
Brazil's National Action Plan against Slave Labour was adopted in March 2003. Components of
the strategy include awareness-raising campaigns, promotion of a new law with stronger
sanctions against offenders such as confiscation of their property, greatly intensified release of
forced labour victims in remote areas through the interventions of mobile police units and other
agents of criminal and labour law enforcement.
In Bolivia, the government created a National Commission for the Eradication of Forced Labour
in December 2004 with a mandate to develop and implement an effective strategy against forced
labour with the participation of workers and employers organizations. 
In Peru, the government is setting up a Multisectoral Commission which is to design a national
policy to eliminate forced labour and strengthen the rule of law in the regions where forced
labour occurs.
REGIONAL AND NATIONAL RESPONSES
Brazil's National Action Plan against Slave Labour was adopted in March 2003. Components of
the strategy include awareness-raising campaigns, promotion of a new law with stronger
sanctions against offenders such as confiscation of their property, greatly intensified release of
forced labour victims in remote areas through the interventions of mobile police units and other
agents of criminal and labour law enforcement.
In Bolivia, the government created a National Commission for the Eradication of Forced Labour
in December 2004 with a mandate to develop and implement an effective strategy against forced
labour with the participation of workers and employers organisations.
2 ILO Fact Sheets on Forced Labour in Latina America and the Caribbean
ILO Fact Sheets on Forced Labour in Latina America and the Caribbean 3
In Peru, the government is in the process of setting up a Multisectoral Commission, with a view
to designing a national policy to eliminate forced labour and strengthen the rule of law in the
regions where forced labour occurs.
ILO ACTION AGAINST FORCED LABOUR
Since 2002, the ILO has been supporting the eradication of forced labour in Brazil. Activities such
as sensitizing law enforcement agencies, and bringing them together in a common platform
against slave labour has resulted in the creation of mobile tribunals ("varas itinerantes") to deal
immediately with the most serious cases.
In Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay, the ILO helping to initiate new strategies and policies developed
jointly by Governments, workers' and employers' organizations. In Bolivia this  led in December
2004 to the creation of a National Commission for the Eradication of Forced Labour, a significant
milestone in the fight against forced labour in this country.
A number of ILO projects aim at the elimination of child trafficking in Central America, Panama,
the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru.


Forced Labour in Latin America

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