NEWS
FROM BRAZIL
supplied by Brazil Justice Net
Number 579, October 31, 2007
Visit
our home page at: http://www.braziljusticenet.org
In this week's News from Brazil:
Close
to 70% of Victims of Human Trafficking are Women
Human
trafficking, one of the modern forms of slavery, victimizes close to
2.5 million people around the world. Although there is no
national
statistic in Brazil, the majority of those affected--close to 70%-- are
women and youth of African descent.
The principal victims,
women and youth with falsified documents, are normally lured into
sexual exploitation or slave labor. According to data from
the
Research on the Trafficking of Women, Children, and Youth for the End
of Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Brazil (Pestraf), 241 human
trafficking routes pass through Brazil: 110 routes of internal
trafficking (78 inter-state routes and 32 inter-municipal routes) and
131 international trafficking routes.
The inter-state and
inter-municipal routes are used for connections with the borders of
South America, especially in the trafficking of youth and children, who
later leave the region in planes, ships, or small boats. The
country
which receives the most Brazilians is Spain--between the two countries
there are 32 trafficking routes. The criminal organization
“Iberian
Connection”, which has numerous connections including one
with the
Russian mafia, is responsible for the majority of transports to the
European country.
After Spain, the countries which have the most
trafficking routes with Brazil are: Holland (11), Venezuela (10), Italy
(9), Portugal (8), Paraguay (7), Switzerland (6), USA (5), Germany (5),
Suriname (5). The lack of a work force and the social
construction of
inferiority are, according to Pestraf, the principal reasons that women
are victims of this kind of violence.
The profile of these women
shows that they normally work in domestic services or in shops (store
clerk, waitress), are poorly paid, do not have workers rights or
guarantees. They come, for the most part, from the poorer
classes,
have low levels of education, and live in the urban peripheries, which
include a lack of sanitation.
The youth come from cities of low
socio-economic development in the rural areas of the country.
Many
have already been victims of intra-family violence (sexual abuse, rape,
seduction, negligence).
According to the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the victims of human trafficking--
men and women of all ages-- are from 127 different nationalities, in
137 countries, and Brazil is one source of victims. The
organization
says that between 600 and 800 thousand people are still trafficked
through international borders each year.
The crimes committed
by agents of international human trafficking (trafficking, activities
and goods produced by the victims) generate US$32 billion per year and
is the third largest illegal activity in the world, behind
the
trafficking of drugs and arms. It is, however, the one which
is
growing the most.
Source: ADITAL]-Agência de
Informação Frei Tito para a América
Latina, www.adital.com.br
September 26, 2007
Multinationals Seek to
Control Brazilian Corn
By Rui Kureda
Recent
news from media sources would have readers believe that Brazil is
euphoric in its corn production. It is true that we are
seeing some
impressive figures, and never have we exported so much corn.
Predictions show that corn production will only increase in
2008. And
according to analyses being done by agribusiness, the expectation is
that Brazil will become the biggest exporter of corn in the world.
On
the other hand, the scene has never been so sober for family farms and
food security. For some time now, big multinational
corporations have
been investing in and gaining control over the food chain on a global
scale. In this strategy, the seed industry holds a key role.
Big
corporations have adopted an aggressive policy of acquiring seed
companies on all continents, setting up an growing oligarchy in this
sector. One example is that of Monsanto, which according to a
2005
report of the ETC Group, controls 41% of the global commerce of corn
seed.
In Brazil, it is the same reality. Since the 1990s,
multinationals have increased their control of the seed
market. Soon
after the approval of the Law of Protection for Cultivation in 1997,
the multinationals have acquired 22 companies. And the corn
industry
in particular has been a preferred target in this offensive,
demonstrating very clearly that there exists a situation of oligarchy
in this area.
In the last few months, two big multinationals
have deepened their involvement in this situation. In August,
Dow
Agroscience bought out Agromen, which held 10% of the Brazilian corn
seed market. In September, Monsanto then announced its
acquisition of
the corn division of Agroeste. It is estimated that both Dow
and
Monsanto dolled out US$100 million each in these purchases.
With
the acquisition of Agromen, Dow now has more than 20% of the corn seed
market, while Monsanto increased its participation in the same market
to 30%, nearing Dupont/Pioneer, the front-runner with 33%.
These three
companies along with the Swiss company Syngenta almost totally control
the Brazilian seed market. But they are not ready to
stop. Now it
seems there is great interest in another Brazilian company, Santa
Helena, in the state of Minas Gerais. Christian Pflug,
manager of
biotechnology and licensing of Monsanto corn left the company's
intentions clear in a recent interview in the magazine, Valor
Economico: "We are going to take every opportunity that comes
our way
to consolidate our position in the corn seed market, just as we have
done in the United States."
One of the reasons for this frantic
rush to corn is that it is currently a hot commodity in the
international market. The United States announcement of its
corn-based
ethanol production plan has had a devastating effect on corn sales and
its surge in price. Certainly, other products will rise in
price as US
farmers abandon other crops in favor of corn for ethanol
production.
With the high demand for corn, principally in Europe, there has been a
huge escalation in price, from 116.60 dollars per ton in July of 2006,
to nearly 165 dollars in 2007.
Although Brazil may be a big
producer of corn, the crop has never occupied a distinctive place in
exportations. Until this year, the record for corn
exportation
happened in 2001 when 6 million tons were exported. In 2006,
4 million
tons were exported. But the high demand has caused a real
boom in
Brazilian exportation. It is estimated that by the end of
this year, 8
million tons will be exported, double that of 2006. The
favorable
performance of corn on the market has generated high
expectations.
Even the Ministry of Agriculture is now saying that exportations will
soon reach 10 million. And these expectations are not just
limited to
short term gains, but will extend themselves over the next 2-3 years
when the US plans to substantially increase its ethanol production.
Source: Brasil de Fato, October 18-24, 2007
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