Brazil expanded slavery protections for domestic workers rescued from conditions analogous to slavery after a bill was signed into law and published on Thursday in the Federal Official Gazette. The measure gives survivors priority access to Bolsa Família, lengthens unemployment insurance from three to six payments, and adds shelter and inspection rules.
Raquel in Bragança Paulista
Raquel, a 62-year-old woman from Minas Gerais, was handed over by her family to work at age 12 and spent nearly half a century in her employer’s home before her rescue in June of this year in Bragança Paulista, São Paulo. After retiring, Raquel stopped being paid but kept working a more intense routine to care for her bedridden employer.
Cesar Dias said, “In some interviews, we realized that this woman had never left. She had no social commitments of her own. She had no social life of her own. She had never taken a vacation.” He also said, “No, of course not.”
Brazil’s rescue pattern
The law arrives after a long rescue record that began with the first two official cases in 2017. Since then, 175 women have been removed from these conditions in Brazil, and 17 victims were identified in 2025. Bahia leads with 41 cases, while São Paulo has 33 rescues.
Lívia Miraglia, a law professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and coordinator of the Clinic on Slave Labor and Human Trafficking, said the crime is marked by the exploitation of Black, poor, and low-educated women, and that they often work for an average of 26 years in employers’ homes. Miraglia also said: “When a worker asks a neighbor for help because she has no toothpaste, no food, she is not saying, ‘I am being exploited.’ She is asking for help to survive, not for someone to rescue her.”
Support beyond shelter
The new law adds shelter mechanisms, but rescued workers cannot be sent to just any shelter because they need support to rebuild daily life, including access to basic financial tools. That is why the package pairs shelter rules with inspection rules and with faster income support through Bolsa Família and unemployment insurance.
Evandro Mesquita described the crime as “a kidnapping of the worker’s life,” and Miraglia said, “She never imagined that this was possible, so the report will never come from them. It is a Black, poor, low-educated girl who is taken in to be raised with the argument that appears in 100% of cases: that she is almost part of the family.” Raquel’s rescue shows what the law is meant to address: a worker removed, counted, and then pushed toward support that matches the scale of the abuse.
