The German group Volkswagenthe world’s second-largest carmaker, faces new accusations related to the dictatorship of Brazilbut this time for internshipsslavery“Between 1974 and 1986, several German media outlets claimed on Sunday.
According to the public television channel ARD and the newspaper ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’, Volkswagen is convened on June 14 before a labor court in Brasilia. The local court sent one notification to the company on May 19th. Asked by AFP, a Volkswagen spokesman said the company was taking “very seriously“This case and the” possible incidents “that may have taken place and on which the investigations of the Brazilian judicial authorities are based.” But for now the group did not want to give further details “due to a possible court proceeding.”
The facts of which the group is accused are said to have taken place between 1974 and 1986, when there was a dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1986). Group workers during this period have been claiming compensation for several years, but so far without success.
According to the German media, the allegations examined by the Brazilian court allege that the car manufacturer used “practices analogous to theslavery” and the human traffickingAnd accuse the group of being complicit in “systematic human rights violations.”
At that time, the group’s project was to build a large agricultural area on the banks of the Amazon for the meat trade, the Companhia Vale do Rio Cristalino. To do so, they were hired through intermediaries hundreds of day laborers and temporary workers to carry out deforestation work on 70,000 hectares of land. According to the German media, the management of the company is likely to consent to these contracts.
Inhuman conditions
The media, which consulted more than 2,000 pages of testimonies and police reports, noted that sometimes the workers were abused by mediators and by armed guards. Among the documents are testimonies of ill-treatment of workers who tried to escape and even suspicious disappearances. The wife of a worker goes be raped as punishment, according to the German media. One mother even claims that her son died as a result of the abuse. “It was a modern form ofslavery“The Rio de Janeiro prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Rafael Garcia, told the German media.
According to him, the working conditions were inhumanwith workers suffering from malaria, some of whom were dying [de la malaltia] and they were buried right there without the families being informed. “Apparently, VW not only accepted this form of slavery, but he encouraged her“Because it was cheap labor,” he added.