Cattle

Where are cattle and beef products produced with forced labor?

According to the United States Department of Labor (2010) cattle and beef products are among the goods most commonly produced with child or forced labor. Cattle ranching takes place with forced labor in Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay and with child labor in Bolivia, Brazil, Chad, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Namibia, Paraguay, Uganda, and Zambia.

What does forced labor in cattle ranching look like?

Forced labor in cattle ranching varies from country to country. In Bolivia, the International Labor Organization and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have documented the existence of debt peonage on cattle ranches in the Bolivian Chaco (ILO 2005; Garcia 2008). Indigenous Guarani are the main victims of forced labor in Bolivia, as they work on the plantations or ranches of large landowners, with family labor arrangements often going back generations. Low rates of payment often result in debt bondage or peonage. However, because the beef and agriculture goods produced in this system are destined for the domestic rather than the international market, this matter has received little attention globally.

In Brazil, cattle ranching accounts for over 60 percent of the companies on the “dirty list” of groups using forced labor (Costa 2009). As in other goods produced in Brazil, forced labor results from young men being brought by brokers to rural plantations where they then enter into debt bondage. Cattle ranching may encompass a variety of activities, from clearing land for pasture to monitoring livestock, intersecting with the production of other goods. “Weak land regulation, the appropriation of public land through forged land titles and the permanent deforestation of new areas in the forest are commonplace,” challenging the identification and elimination of forced labor (Costa 2009). Such is the correlation between forced labor and cattle ranching that in 2009 Wal-Mart made a commitment to stop purchasing beef products from farms linked with deforestation or forced labor (Winston 2009).

How does forced labor in cattle ranching affect me?

Products from cattle ranching include beef and leather.

Cattle Supply Chain

“The United States, although the largest producer of beef in the world, is a net beef importer. Most beef produced and exported from the United States is grain-finished, high-value cuts. Most beef that the United States imports is lower value, grass-fed beef destined for processing, primarily as ground beef” (USDA). The only country which is both a major exporter of beef to the U.S. and a user of forced or child labor is Brazil. However, the U.S. is a comparatively minor trade partner for this product, as the most common destinations for Brazilian beef are Saudi Arabia, Russia and Angola (FAO).

Where can I learn more?

Watch a video from Al Jazeera on the environmental effects of Brazilian cattle ranching.