Brazilian woman forced into domestic slavery and marriage freed after 40 years

[Judi Lynn]

Professor and family face up to eight years in prison for their treatment of woman given to them as a child

Reuters in Rio de Janeiro
Mon 21 Dec 2020 16.30 EST

A Brazilian woman enslaved as a maid from the age of eight for almost four decades and forced into marriage has been rescued in a rare crackdown on domestic slavery.

The 46-year-old was found living in a small room in an apartment in Patos de Minas, in the south eastern state of Minas Gerais. She had worked for the family for most of her life without pay or any time off, according to labour inspectors.

The victim was given up as a child by her destitute parents to a professor at Patos de Minas University, Unipam, and raised by his mother, inspectors said.

“They gave her food when she was hungry, but all other rights were taken from her,” Humberto Camasmie, the inspector in charge of the rescue, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/21/brazilian-woman-forced-into-domestic-slavery-and-marriage-freed-after-40-years