塞巴斯蒂安·贝尔|发表于 2022 年 5 月 30 日

 6 月 14 日，大众汽车被巴西劳工法庭传唤，并面临 1974 年至 1986 年间在该国“类似奴隶制的做法”和“贩卖人口”的指控。

据德国《南德意志报》报道，该汽车制造商于 5 月 19 日收到巴西巴西利亚司法机构的通知。这家德国巨头表示，它非常重视这些指控。

“我们可以向您保证，我们非常重视 Fazenda Rio Cristalino 可能发生的事件，巴西调查当局的调查提到了这些事件，”大众汽车告诉路透社。“请理解，由于可能面临法律诉讼，我们不会进一步发表评论。”

另请阅读：大众汽车被揭露监视巴西工人和工会活动家

大众汽车被指控在巴西历史上、军事独裁统治时期参与了“系统性侵犯人权行为”。根据德国媒体查阅的由证词和警方报告组成的文件，这家汽车制造商正在亚马逊盆地边缘的一个大型农业场地进行肉类贸易。

通过中介招募了数百名临时工在 70,000 公顷（173,000 英亩）的土地上砍伐森林，但据媒体报道，这很可能得到了大众管理层的同意。

据称，该网站的工人是武装警卫和其他人实施的虐待和暴力的受害者。还有人声称试图逃离的工人在神秘的情况下受到虐待，或失踪。

据法新社报道，一名妇女声称她的孩子死于暴力虐待。据报道，另一人受到性侵犯。与此同时，据称其他人在现场遭受不人道的工作条件，一些人死于疟疾，并在没有通知家人的情况下被埋在现场。

“这是现代奴隶制的一种形式，”负责调查的检察官拉斐尔·加西亚告诉媒体。“大众显然不仅接受了这种形式的奴役，而且还鼓励它，因为它是廉价劳动力。”

大众前雇员多年来一直在寻求赔偿，2020年，这家汽车制造商与巴西联邦检察官签署了一项协议，支付3600万雷亚尔（当时为640万美元），以补偿其在军事独裁中所扮演的角色，以及在识别左翼反对者和工会领导人方面的作用，这些人随后被拘留和折磨。

Volkswagen Accused Of Using “Slavery-Like” Practices In Brazil In ’70s and ’80s

BY SEBASTIEN BELL | POSTED ONMAY 30, 2022

Volkswagen has been summoned before a labor court in Brazil on June 14 and faces accusations of using “slavery-like practices” and “human trafficking” in the country between 1974 and 1986.

The automaker was notified by the judiciary in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 19, reports Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The German giant said it is taking these accusations very seriously.

“We can assure you that we take the possible events at Fazenda Rio Cristalino, to which the investigation by the Brazilian investigating authorities refers, very seriously,” Volkswagen told Reuters. “Please understand that we are not commenting further due to possible legal proceedings in Brazil.”

Read Also: VW Revealed to Have Spied on Brazillian Workers and Union Activists

Volkswagen is accused of having been complicit in “systematic human rights violations,” during a period of Brazilian history in which the country was run by a military dictatorship. According to documents made up of testimonies and police reports consulted by the German outlet, the automaker was working on a large agricultural site on the edge of the Amazon basin for the meat trade.

Hundreds of day laborers were recruited for deforestation on 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) of land via intermediaries but, the outlets report, likely with the consent of VW‘s management.

The site’s workers were allegedly the victims of abuse and violence, which was carried out by armed guards and others. There are also claims that workers who tried to flee were mistreated or disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

One woman claimed that her child died as a result of violent abuse, according to Agence France Presse. Another was reportedly sexually assaulted as punishment. Others, meanwhile, were allegedly subject to inhumane working conditions on the site with some dying of malaria and being buried on-site without having their families informed.

“It was a form of modern slavery,” Rafael Garcia, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation told media. “VW had obviously not only accepted this form of slavery but also encouraged it, as it was cheap labor.”

Former VW employees have been seeking compensation for years and, in 2020, the automaker signed a deal with federal prosecutors in Brazil to pay 36 million reais ($6.4 million USD at the time) in compensation for its part in the military dictatorship and its role in identifying leftist opponents and union leaders, who were then detained and tortured.

TAGSBRAZIL, REPORTS, VW