The United States Department of Homeland Security, describes human trafficking as "the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.
Transgender women are a population especially vulnerable to human trafficking in Brazil, due in part to the high number of trans people already in the commercial sex industry.
Brazilian women and children are also subjected to forced prostitution in neighboring countries such as Argentina, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela, and Paraguay.
This move is in part motivated by child sex tourists, people coming to Brazil in order to take advantage of the more lax regulations and easier access to victims.
More than 25,000 Brazilian men are subjected to slave labor within the country, typically on cattle ranches, logging and mining camps, sugar-cane plantations, and large farms producing corn, cotton, soy, and charcoal.
A recent U.S. Department of Labor study showed that Brazil still employs children mostly in the agricultural sector, as well as the mining and textile industries with a total of 16 products.
[7] To a lesser extent, Brazil is a destination for the trafficking of men, women, and children from Bolivia, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Paraguay, China and African countries for forced labor in garment factories and textile sweatshops in metropolitan centers such as São Paulo.
African, Arab and Bangladeshi migrants forced to work in the halal chicken factories in the Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul.
Law 12.015, which entered into effect in August 2009, amended Sections 231 and 231-A of the Brazilian penal code to strengthen penalties against potential sex trafficking offenders.
Sections 231 and 231-A prohibit promoting or facilitating movement to, from, or within the country for the purposes of prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, prescribing penalties of three to eight years’ imprisonment.
However, Brazilian law may not adequately criminalize other means of non-physical coercion or fraud used to subject workers to forced labor, such as threatening foreign migrants with deportation unless they continued to work.
In the past, mobile unit inspectors did not typically seize physical evidence or attempt to interview witnesses with the goal of developing a criminal investigation or prosecution; labor inspectors and labor prosecutors can only apply civil penalties, and their anti-trafficking efforts were not always coordinated with public ministry prosecutors, who initiate criminal cases in federal court.
An integrated sex trafficking database which will collect information from law enforcement, the judiciary branch, and anti-trafficking centers around the country remained in the testing stage.
Brazilian police continued to refer child sex trafficking victims to government-run Service to Combat Violence, Abuse, and Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents for care.
In recent years, however, challenges remain due to socioeconomic factors, such as poverty and unemployment, which contribute significantly to the vulnerability of individuals to trafficking.
Data from 2021 highlighted that economic hardship, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, has left an estimated 9.5 million Brazilians unemployed, intensifying vulnerability to exploitation.
[13] As of the most recent Assessment, the country continues to face challenges with transparency, as the 'dirty list' revealed 149 cases where companies were flagged but no enforcement actions were taken.
[14] The government took measures to reduce demand for commercial sexual exploitation of children by conducting a multi-media campaign during the 2010 Carnaval holiday period, reaching an estimated audience of 600,000,000.
Action brigades distributed a wide variety of awareness materials, radio announcements were broadcast daily, and airlines made information available on their flights.
In 2024, new campaigns led by civil society organizations have aimed to raised awareness about the dangers of human trafficking, particularly focusing on child victims and using social media platforms to engage younger audiences.
[15] In recent years, collaboration with transportation companies has expanded, with additional training and resources provided to prevent child exploitation in transit areas.
In partnership with a Brazilian energy company and an international organization, authorities trained highway police and engaged truck drivers in the fight against the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
The establishment of international agreements, including updates made in 2024, is seen as crucial for enhancing Brazil's ability to combat trafficking effectively providing a framework of cooperation with other nations.
Brazil's partnerships with neighboring countries have resulted in joint operations that identified over 300 trafficking victims across borders in 2022, demonstrating the impact of cross-border cooperation.
[8] In 2024, ongoing evaluations of training effectiveness were highlighted as essential to ensure that military personnel are equipped to recognize and address human trafficking in operational contexts.