Uma nova perspectiva acerca do direito de visita diante do fenômeno da escravidão moderna no ambiente marítimo

Abstract

Faced with the reality of the seas that frequently brings complaints of ill-treat-ment and demeaning work conditions, the present study sought to align the law of the sea with contemporary international law that places modern slavery as an evil to be extinguished. Thus, this dissertation used the hypothetico-deductive method to falsify the hypothesis initially formulated: the Brazilian State can exercise, at its discretion and with enforceable jurisdiction, the right of visit foreign vessels that use the phenomenon of modern maritime slavery, supporting the greater interest of the law of the sea to preserve the public order of the oceans and the conceptual evolution of the term slav-ery. It will be demonstrated that the current stage of international law conceives the guarantees of not being enslaved and / or trafficked as “jus cogens” rights so essential that they must be interpreted broadly and with primacy. Therefore, they would encom-pass the situations where modern maritime slavery takes place to the point of enabling the use of the right of visit to interdict foreign vessels that practiced slavery. Although basic precepts of the world maritime system, such as freedom of navigation and the principle of the unique jurisdiction of the flag State, establish a position in the sense of non-interference from others, Brazil could intercept ships suspected of modern mari-time slavery. As demonstrated throughout the study, the argument of protecting “jus cogens” rights that deserve priority within the international system and the claim of possible damage to its maritime security would accredit Brazil to such a position. The internationally recognized stance of the Brazilian State also corroborates this argument to inspect and repress this type of exploitation and, thus, it would be paramount for Brazil to defend the right not to be the target of slavery. Hence, the present study con-firmed the hypothesis formulated in such a way that it demonstrated that the precepts that would prevent the interdiction, in fact, must be interpreted according to the whole system of contemporary international law. Therefore, the law of the sea will remain aligned with current day international society in safeguarding “jus cogens” rights to repress the practice of modern slavery.