Latest modern slavery fight updates - FreedomUnited.org

Brazilian Religious Cults Enslaving Their Followers

  • Published on
    February 21, 2019
  • News Source Image
  • Category:
    Domestic Slavery, Forced Labor, Rehabilitation & Liberation
Hero Banner

“Help me get out of here please. I want to leave here, dad. I want to talk to you, but they won’t let me.”

It was the first time Ronaldo Soares had heard from his estranged daughter after four years after she followed her mother in 2014 to join Igreja Adventista Remanescente de Laodiceia  — a religious community based on a farm in Brasilia.

His daughter had managed to steal phone from another church member, alerting her father that she was being held in domestic servitude.

While data is scare on the number of people enslaved by cults in Brazil, forced labor is a major problem in certain groups.

Thomson Reuters Foundation reports:

Cult followers who are exploited but do not see themselves as victims are the biggest obstacle that authorities face when building cases, according to labor inspectors and prosecutors.

“This is a major difficulty to stop the (cults’) criminal enterprises”, said Marcelo Campos, a labor inspector based in Minas Gerais, who has investigated Traduzindo o Verbo for years.

Traduzindo o Verbo denied that its members were kept like slaves, while Igreja Adventista Remanescente de Laodiceia refused to comment. Two other churches accused of exploitation, including one in the United States, denied all such allegations.

While some faiths may seem unusual, what separates a cult from a legitimate religion is not its set of beliefs, but the abuse of its members, said Rick Alan Ross, executive director of the Cult Education Institute, a U.S. non-profit in New Jersey.

Modern slavery in cults is “All about isolation and control,” explained Ross. “If you can control what (people) read, see and hear, you control their mind.”

After Soares retrieved his daughter from the cult, police went to the farm where she was being held and found two other women. One of them was rescued, but the other insisted that she was free and wanted to stay.

“She was clearly intimidated … But she is of age and said that in front of people, so there was nothing we could do,” said Vander Braga, the police officer who led the rescue operation.

Subscribe

Freedom United is interested in hearing from our community and welcomes relevant, informed comments, advice, and insights that advance the conversation around our campaigns and advocacy. We value inclusivity and respect within our community. To be approved, your comments should be civil.

stop icon A few things we do not tolerate: comments that promote discrimination, prejudice, racism, or xenophobia, as well as personal attacks or profanity. We screen submissions in order to create a space where the entire Freedom United community feels safe to express and exchange thoughtful opinions.

Notify of
guest
1 Comment
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jocelyn Chouinard
Jocelyn Chouinard
5 years ago

Sick and evil!!

This week

India’s shrimp industry contaminated by forced labor, hazardous conditions, new investigations reveal

The insatiable demand for shrimp in Western countries has led to the rapid expansion of hatcheries and processing plants across traditional farming communities in India. However, according to recent investigations by Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL), the Associated Press and Outlaw Ocean, not only are the new hatcheries and processing plants contaminating the water and soil making it almost impossible to staple grow crops like rice, they also hide

| Wednesday March 20, 2024

Read more