Country: Peru

Group: Indigenous Peru

Date: 11/06/2020

Team: Thomas Chia (lead), Arisha Khan, Alexa Hager

Content Warning: forced labor

Approximate Time Period: 1574-1824, 2010-present

The Indigenous Peruvians have faced forced labor both during the colonial period and in more recent times according to sources.  I would rate the information regarding the Indigenous Peru and forced labor a 3 considering the large amount of information in both current and historic times.

Indigenous Peruvians, also known as Native Peruvians, make up about 26% of the population in Peru today, although their numbers have heavily diminished from what they used to be due to factors such as the Inca Empire and Spanish colonization (Central Intelligence Agency, 2020).  As the Spanish looked to develop their colonial economy through commercial monopoly and mineral extraction via the silver mines, Indigenous Peru were often looked at for this kind of work (Reséndez, 2016).  In these silver mines, these Indigenous Peru received little to no compensation and worked in horrible conditions that many did not survive (Reséndez, 2016).  For about 250 years, Indigenous Peru worked in the silver mines until the end of the colonial period, around 1824 (Reséndez, 2016).  In more recent times, there have also been reports of forced labor through debt bondage in Peru and other Latin American countries (Hauchère, 2008).  In Peru, many Indigenous Peru are said to be exploited through illegal logging in the Amazon (Hauchère, 2008).

Sources:

  1. Central Intelligence Agency. (2020). South America: Peru. The World Factbook. Retrieved November 6, 2020 from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pe.html
  2. Hauchère, A. (2008, February 27). Forced labour, discrimination and poverty reduction among indigenous peoples in Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay [Project]. International Labor Organization. https://doi.org/10/01/RBS
  3. Reséndez, Andrés. (2016). The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America. Mariner Books (Kindle Locations 849–856).