COMMENT ON DOL DRAFT LIST FOR TVPRA

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRASILIA 000124 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2019 TAGS: EIND ELAB ETRD PHUM SOCI BR SUBJECT: COMMENT ON DOL DRAFT LIST FOR TVPRA REF: A. SECSTATE 3075 ¶B. BUENOS AIRES 50 ¶C. BOGOTA 275 ¶D. SAO PAULO 432 Classified By: Political Counselor Stephen Liston, reasons 1.4 b/d ¶1. (U) This is an action request, please see paragaph five. ¶2. (C) Embassy Brasilia appreciates the opportunity to comment on the draft TVPRA list of products using child and/or forced labor. The draft list of Brazilian products is only partially accurate and Mission is concerned that this blunt instrument will not reflect the relative size of the problem and therefore may unfairly brand an entire product even when only a small percentage of production uses child and/or forced labor. Nor can it adequately reflect trends that are especially relevant to certain sensitive products such as ethanol derived from sugarcane (ref D). We also share the concerns expressed by Buenos Aires (ref B) and Bogota (ref C) and would like to see more detailed information in the final list to give context about the size of the child and forced labor problems. It will also be important to distinguish between those countries in which governments are taking serious steps to correct child and forced labor problems and those where no such effort is being made. ¶3. (C) Publication of the list can be expected to provoke a negative reaction from Brazilian authorities who may suspect an underlying trade protection motive on our part. For this reason and in view of acute Brazilian sensitivity to outside criticism, Mission will need to brief Brazilian officials on the final list before it is made public to mitigate the damage. ¶4. (C) Mission has credible information that child and/or forced labor is used to produce the following: Beans (soy) Child Labor and Forced Labor Cattle Child Labor and Forced Labor Ceramics Child Labor Charcoal Child Labor and Forced Labor (Note: as it pertains to charcoal for the production of pig iron. End note.) Coffee Child Labor Cotton Child Labor and Forced labor Footwear Child Labor Manioc/Cassava Child Labor Pineapples Child Labor Rice Child Labor Sisal Child Labor Sugarcane Child Labor and Forced Labor Talcum (mineral) Child Labor Timber Forced Labor Tobacco Child Labor (Note: Labor Ministry statistics for several of these products suggest low numbers of children may be involved. End note.) Mission has credible information that child labor is also used in gold and tin mining and to harvest Brazil nuts. We cannot confirm that child and/or forced labor is used to produce the following and will seek additional information: Bananas Child Labor Bricks Child Labor Coffee Forced Labor (Note: an NGO expert on forced labor told us there are very few forced labor cases associated with coffee. End note.) Corn Child Labor ¶5. (SBU) Action request: Mission requests information from DOL about sources used to develop the list of Brazilian products. Mission will continue to research products on the list and will provide additional findings. Sobel SOBEL