Since Brazilian laws related to trafficking also criminalize non- trafficking crimes, and other laws may have been used to prosecute and convict trafficking offenders, the total number of trafficking investigations, prosecutions, and convictions was unknown. In 2014, authorities reported police investigations of 75 cases and five new prosecutions under Article 231; nine investigations and two new prosecutions under Article 231-A; and 290 new or existing investigations under Article 149, but did not report the number of prosecutions initiated under Article 149. In comparison, in 2013 authorities reported police investigations of 77 cases and 16 prosecutions under Article 231; 12 investigations and eight prosecutions under Article 231-A; and 185 investigations and 101 prosecutions under Article 149. Most sex and labor traffickers convicted by lower courts appealed their convictions while out of jail.These judicial processes lasted years and delays made holding traffickers accountable difficult. Sentences issued under trafficking statutes were leniently implemented. Based on incomplete data, in 2014 federal appeals courts upheld the convictions of nine international sex traffickers in two cases and four labor traffickers, compared with seven sex traffickers and five labor traffickers in 2013. Officials reported no final convictions for cases involving child victims. Sex traffickers convicted in 2014 had sentences ranging from one year to eight years and 10 months’ imprisonment; however, most convicted traffickers served these sentences under house arrest or by spending only nights in prison while being free during the day. Imposed sentences for convicted labor traffickers were not reported. Research in Sao Paulo state found only three trabalho escravo lower court convictions and none for sex trafficking out of 171 trafficking-related cases registered with criminal prosecutors as of September 2014. In 87 percent of cases, criminal charges were dropped.
Anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts were disjointed due to different laws and government entities involved. Law enforcement units required more funding, expertise, and staff to investigate trafficking, and awareness of trafficking among law enforcement was low. Officials reported bureaucratic hurdles, such as the inability to investigate businesses for sex trafficking without official complaints. Authorities established national and state judicial committees to improve the judiciary’s trafficking response. Training for law enforcement remained uneven, especially for state police, though officials reported launching mandatory anti-trafficking training for new federal police. The Ministry of Labor (MOL)’s anti-trabalho escravo mobile units freed workers and required those responsible for their exploitation to pay fines. Labor inspectors and prosecutors could only apply civil penalties, and many trabalho escravo cases were not criminally prosecuted. Local political pressure, threats from landowners, a shortage of labor inspectors or police, and the remoteness of properties hampered some investigations. Officials found domestic servitude particularly difficult to identify and investigate.
Authorities did not report any new investigations of complicit officials in 2014. An ex-mayor from Amazonas state was convicted by a lower court of promoting child prostitution and incarcerated as he appealed his conviction. Authorities did not report taking action against judges who intentionally delayed investigating this ex-mayor in 2013.The government did not report progress on 2013 cases involving a judge in Bahia state allegedly involved in sex trafficking and police officers in Rio de Janeiro allegedly involved in operating a brothel.A supreme labor court found one congressman guilty of trabalho escravo and fined him for collective damages but absolved another congressman of the same crime. The federal supreme court dropped criminal trabalho escravo investigations

of several Congress members after they were not re-elected.

PROTECTION
The government made uneven progress in victim protection efforts. A government publication provided guidance on how to identify and assist potential trafficking victims, but many officials did not have or did not implement this guidance and lacked guidelines for screening vulnerable populations for trafficking indicators. Government entities used different definitions for trafficking, making it difficult to assess victim identification and assistance efforts. State governments operated 16 state-level anti-trafficking offices, which varied in effectiveness.These offices improved data collection efforts, though unreliable data remained a problem.The anti-trafficking offices and three offices helping migrants at airports reported a total of 85 potential sex trafficking and 844 potential labor trafficking victims in the first half of 2014, and 81 potential sex trafficking and 1,185 potential labor trafficking victims in the latter half; in some cases the same victims were counted twice. Many of the potential labor trafficking victims were identified by MOL mobile inspection units, which identified and freed 1,509 laborers in situations of trabalho escravo in 2014. Officials did not report the total number of victims of domestic servitude or commercial sexual exploitation of children identified in 2014.
The federal government did not fund specialized shelters or services for trafficking victims. General victim services and shelters varied in quality from state to state and generally remained underfunded and inadequate. Anti-trafficking offices were responsible for referring victims to services, but authorities did not report how many victims these offices referred to services. The government operated specialized social service centers across the country where psychologists and social workers provided assistance to vulnerable people. Only 557 centers, or 23 percent, were certified to assist trafficking victims, and many centers were underfunded. Officials generally did not refer individuals in trabalho escravo to these centers. In 2013, the last year for which statistics were available, these centers reported assisting 292 trafficking victims; authorities did not report the age or gender of 228 of these victims, but reported assisting 12 girls, 10 women, 10 boys, and 32 men. There were no specialized services for male and transgender sex trafficking victims.The government did not fund long-term shelter for trafficking victims. Sao Paulo state opened a temporary shelter for refugees and trafficking victims in October 2014 but did not report how many victims stayed at the shelter. Authorities did not report how many child victims were referred to social service centers in 2014, and specialized shelters for child sex trafficking victims were lacking. NGOs and officials reported local guardianship councils often did not have the expertise or resources to correctly identify child victims and refer them to services.
The government provided individuals removed from trabalho escravo with unpaid wages plus three months’ minimum wage salary and transportation home, a benefit sex trafficking victims did not receive.While labor prosecutors awarded some workers compensation from fines levied against employers, in some cases officials did not file for these indemnities, and in other cases victims did not receive them due to nonpayment by employers. Authorities did not report the amount of back-pay owed to rescued workers in 2014. Mato Grosso was the only state to provide funds to a program offering vocational training to freed slave laborers. Most rescued slave laborers remained vulnerable to re-trafficking due to few employment alternates and lack of adequate assistance.