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Our team of journalists investigate human rights violations and threats to the environment. By following the supply chains of large economic sectors, Repórter Brasil links on the ground violations with major national and international brands. Our stories and videos can be republished, as long as the content is not edited, under Creative Commons license.
Meat industry encroaches on Paraguayan Chaco
Brazilian investors are banking on this sensitive region, where cattle farming is growing at a pace as fast as illegal deforestation and reports of indigenous slave labor
Good practice: slavery
The Rainforest Alliance seal, one of the most important certifications, was awarded to farms belonging to Cutrale, a company caught using slave labor in 2013. The certifier that challenged the process was replaced.
The crooked paths of Suape
Residents of traditional communities in Pernambuco denounce the government-run industrial complex for human rights violations, such as threats and evictions; accusations reach the UN
100 years of servitude
In the state of Amazonas, extractivists work to pay off debts to their bosses. For three generations the cycle has bound families to a life of cutting piassava, the palm fibers used to make brooms
Acre against Chico Mendes
Traditional communities are excluded by the green economy of the Viana brothers. The rubber tapper leader defended the extractivist lifestyle as the best way to protect nature
Rural War
Escalation of rural violence foretells climate of war in 2017. Brazil is the champion in deaths of leaders in the field. We investigate the stories behind the numbers.
Massacre in Pará
Witness claims that rancher had paid police officers in the past to remove landless people from another farm of her. Evidence suggests that the police were working alongside private security guards
There is no Regulation
Kevin Bales talks about how slave labor and environmental destruction walk hand in hand. And reports the lack of control over the origin of products
Lives in Danger
Workers rescued from slave labor in Pará, Brazil, unveil the dangers of the illegal logging trade: fatal accidents, animal attacks and threats from employers
The 21st Century Settlers
Video tells the story of the migrants attracted to the Amazon with false promises. Without an alternative,they make a living by cutting down trees. Often, in networks that exploit slave labor
Major Brands Linked to Slave Labor
Timber linked to slave labor in Brazil may have reached renovation projects for New York’s Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park. Investigation revealed that U.S.-based companies bought the timber
‘Transparency List of Slave Labor’
Using the Access to Information Act, Repórter Brasil and InPACTO disclose the list, with 420 names of those caught using that type of labor. The names used to remain in the ‘black list’ for at least two years
The Amazon rots away
The Teles Pires power plant violated its environmental plan and flooded the dam reservoir without clearing vegetation. The resulting decomposition will release large amounts of methane
Belo Monte
While it wastes trees rotting on building sites, the plant purchases irregular wood heating up the illegal market. The burning of trees and animal deaths is only the first stage of a vicious cycle
Proposed Amazon dam attracts illegal loggers
Plans for the São Luiz do Tapajós dam in Pará, Brazil, have led to increased illegal squatting and illicit timber harvesting. Homestead farmers fear for their future
Munduruku fighting dams
A large indigenous group with a strong warrior tradition is confronting the Brazilian government to block hydroelectric dams. Whether in Pará, Paris or Brasília, they have demonstrated great skill at political engagement
Tapajós dams
Experts question the validity of a Brazilian Environmental Impact Study supporting a mega-dam planned at the heart of the Amazon. Dams may bring fish kills, species loss and mercury contamination
Tapajós dam puts species at risk
Eight new mammal species were found at the Sao Luiz do Tapajós dam building site, which threatens to become Brazil’s most controversial hydro project ever
Land speculators profit of Amazon dams
Arlindo de Oliveira makes a living by infiltrating Amazon Basin communities, buying up riverside land, then getting compensated when a new dam is built. This time, he has his eye set on the São Luiz do Tapajós
The life of cows turned into meat at JBS
Cattle ranches that supply JBS contradict the company’s advertising and run counter to the recommendations of the Ministry of Agriculture. Practices violate the animal-welfare policies established by JBS itself
Videos and documentaries
Under death threat
Rural workers that won’t abandon their homes are threatened by loggers and farmers. Repórter Brasil compiled 10 testimonies from people that live under the constant threat of death
Ka'apor seek to break with the rest of society
The indigenous people of Maranão, one of the poorest regions of the country, got tired of waiting for help and decided to break with the society of Karaís, as non-indigenous call it.
Massacre in Pará: survivors describe the killings
Survivors describe what happened during the Pau D´arco massacre, where 10 landless people were killed by the police during an operation in the Santa Lucia farm
Wood and Slavery
We followed the inspection of the Public Department of Labor that led to the rescue of men working in the timber sector in the west part of the state of Pará, Brazil
Do not breathe - Contains Asbestos
“Do Not Breathe” investigates how the asbestos industry tries to spin the message that the type of minerals used in the billion-dollar roofing market, called “chrysotile”, isn’t all that bad
The ashes of Belo Monte
Repórter Brasil witnessed Belo Monte dam illegally burning Amazonian trees in the Xingu river, state of Pará. Our investigation also found dead animals on the site
Edge of a cliff
Brazil is the world’s largest poultry and tobacco exporter. Over 360 poultry farmers and tobacco growers were working over suspicious contracts in the southern os the country
To the bone
The documentary film is a plunge in the universe of workers at Brazil’s meat companies: accidents, diseases, and other problems resulting from working at plants where fowl, swine, and bovines are slaughtered
Jaci, sevens sins of an Amazonian work
During four years, this documentary collected stories on a small town in the Amazon that was radically changed since the beginning of a huge hydroeletric plant nearby
Research
Brewing up a sustainable coffee supply chain
The social responsibility of coffee roasters and private label coffee in Finland. Human rights violations such as child labour continue to be directly associated with coffee cultivation
Monitor #2
Lack of a formal contracts, excessive working hours and unhealthy conditions are just some of the problems of Brazil’s poultry industry, the second largest poultry producer in the world
Monitor #1
Globalization and concentration in Brazil’s agri-food system. The emergence of large business groups is one of the most visible results of the changes undergone by Brazil’s food industry in the last two decades
From moral responsibility to legal liability?
Modern day slavery conditions in the global garment supply chain and the need to strengthen regulatory frameworks: The case of Inditex-Zara in Brazil and the conditions ‘analogous to slavery’
Brazil, new manufacturing hotspot?
In recent years many multinational companies in the electronics and electrical industry have found their way to Brazil. But workers face poor labor conditions
Brazil of Biofuels (2009)
A study on the use of animal fat to produce biodiesel, dedicating special attention to two crops that have not been covered: sunflower and rapeseed. Will the advancement of soybean not destroy the Cerrado and Amazon?
Brazil of Biofuels (2009)
Under the general aim of annually monitoring the effects of crops used to produce bioenergy, this is our first updating report concerning soybean and castor bean
Brazil of Biofuels (2009)
The impacts caused by the expansion of the sugar-alcohol industry in Brazil involve overexploitation of workers, disrespect for communities, traditional populations, and indigenous peoples, and environmental degradation
Brazil of Biofuels (2008)
Research on sugarcane, an expanding crop facing the ethanol global boom, brings an alert: one hand, high investments and technology development; on the other, environmental problems and laboural superexploitation
Brazil of Biofuels (2008)
Palms, Cotton, Corn and Jatropha. The report shows analysis, case studies and reports on the socio-economic, environmental, land related and labour related impacts