By IANS
Brasilia : A group of 820 indigenous Brazilians kept as slave labourers at a sugar firm in a town in the southern state of Mato Grosso do Sul have been freed by government officials, Spanish news agency EFE reported Wednesday.
In a statement Brazil’s Labour Ministry Tuesday announced the rescue of the workers from a sugar refinery firm located on the outskirts of Brasilandia town in Mato Grosso do Sul, which is considered one of the country’s new agricultural frontiers.
Acknowledging that such illegal practice still persists in the country’s rural areas, the note said that the indigenous people, who were found in “extremely degrading labour conditions”, were forced to sleep surrounded by refuse and had to buy their food at stinking and badly maintained company cafeterias.
According to figures of the International Labour Organisation, some 25,000 workers have been freed from slavery-like conditions in Brazil since 1995, but the practice persists and continues to affect thousands of people.