Pastoral Land Commission of the Upper Xingu

The project’s proposal is to hold seminars and meetings to discuss the challenges related to confronting human trafficking for slave labor, aside from forwarding denunciations of this type of crime to the relevant authorities and offer support to the victims. The initiative will involve professors and students from the EJA – Education of Youth and Adults in debates on the topic.

– Regular meetings with other entities who wish to work in partnership on the issue of human trafficking (joint creation and maintenance of a “network” and database);

– Meetings and training workshops on the theme together with the network in communities, encampments, settlements, youth groups and outlying urban neighborhoods;

– Promotion of a school project with lectures and projects in schools, together with teachers and students from the EJA (along with the Municipal Secretary of Education);

– Informative pamphlet on Human Trafficking. The production will be carried out together with the students participating;

– Home visits (in partnership with the Pastoral for Children and/or health workers) to the most vulnerable groups in outlying urban areas;

– Reception of denunciations concerning Human Trafficking at the CPT office, for forwarding to the responsible organ – along with accompaniment of the victim to these organs and general support.

The crime of human trafficking is a nearly 32 billion dollar a year industry (UN data) and involves national and international criminal networks in activities such as sexual exploitation, labor exploitation (urban and rural slave labor) and the trafficking of children and adolescents. In the CPT of the Upper Xingu’s area of activity, there have mainly been cases of rural slave labor and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. The current rates of unemployment and social vulnerability in this location, along with the development model oriented towards huge infrastructure projects, have all contributed to the worsening situation.

It is part of the CPT’s commitment to alert society to this problem, denounce this type of crime against human rights and support the victims of this trafficking.

The CPT of the Upper Xingu was founded in 1999 and is associated with the national CPT, a body convened by the CNBB (National Conference of Brazilian Bishops). Though it has a religious character, its principal mission is to develop together with rural workers a support service for rural workers’ organizations and an entity to aid in the defense of their rights.

The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) of the Upper Xingu is linked to CPT’s national organization, an organ of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) and the Via Campesina International Peasant Movement.

Minor seminars and visits to areas in the interior were arranged. Meetings with local communities took place in all areas, discussing human trafficking and distributing informational material. The work with youth groups and school activities was intensified, including workshops, drawing and poetry competitions and film screenings. The project also made the creation of things such as t-shirts, leaflets, banners and posters possible. As a finale, the booklet “With an eye on human trafficking” was published, featuring information as well as the best work of the pupils who had participated in the school project.