Brazil’s Labor Courts Prepare Mobile Justice Program on Marajó Island in May

This page is a translation of the original Portuguese text, provided for convenience. It deals with Brazilian law. If there is any discrepancy, the Portuguese version prevails. Read the original in Portuguese

A delegation from Brazil’s Labor Courts is touring the Marajó archipelago in Pará, in a listening phase ahead of the itinerant justice program scheduled for May 18 to 22 in the municipalities of Breves, Melgaço, and Portel.

Preparatory visit brings high-level courts to the Marajó archipelago

Representatives of the Superior Labor Court, the Superior Council of Labor Justice, and the Regional Labor Court of the 8th Region (which covers Pará and Amapá) traveled through the Marajó region in Pará during the week of April 7 to 11, 2026. Their schedule was devoted to planning an itinerant justice program, in which court services travel to the communities. The program is set for May 18 to 22 and will cover the Pará municipalities of Breves, Melgaço, and Portel, three of the most populous cities in the Amazon archipelago.

The effort is part of the National Itinerant Justice Policy and belongs to the so-called Legal Amazon Cooperative (Jical), a network coordinated by the National Council of Justice that brings together different branches of the judiciary and partner institutions. According to the project’s coordinators, the central goal is to extend the reach of judicial services in regions marked by geographic dispersion, river isolation, and a historic lack of permanent state structures.

Before heading to the island, the delegation was received in Belém by the administration of the Regional Labor Court of the 8th Region, which provided institutional and operational support. The stop in Belém was used to align goals, discuss logistics, and organize the schedule for the local assessment phase. That phase is considered decisive in shaping the activities to be delivered in the second stage, in May.

Listening to the local population shapes the activities

Otávio Ferreira, coordinator of the National Itinerant Justice Policy and auxiliary judge of the Superior Council, explained that the preliminary stage focuses on listening to communities in order to understand their concrete needs. Based on what is gathered, the activities planned for May will be adjusted to each municipality, with priority given to the issues that come up most strongly in residents’ accounts. This approach is meant to avoid offering standardized services, a model often criticized as ineffective in hard-to-reach areas.

In Breves, about twelve hours by boat from the state capital, the delegation met with municipal secretaries, members of social movements, representatives of the child protection council (conselho tutelar), and public safety officers. They also visited the local prison and the Court of Justice in the city, visits that strengthened dialogue with institutions already present in the territory. The listening sessions served as a gauge of the most urgent pressures, from the need for basic identity documents to reports of informal work and labor exploitation. To better understand how labor law works in situations of vulnerability, it is worth following how these itinerant editions develop.

Planning is not enough. Integration is what makes these initiatives actually reach the territory.

The delegation then held meetings in Melgaço and Portel, similar to those in Breves, with municipal officials, members of child protection councils, and community leaders. The three cities form a strategic corridor in Marajó. Melgaço ranks among the Brazilian municipalities with the worst development indicators, while Portel has a significant history of complaints involving precarious rural labor. These locations were not chosen at random. They resulted from cross-referencing documented needs with the logistical capacity to mobilize services.

Institutional coordination and academic partnerships close out the trip

Back in Belém, the delegation delivered the reports from the listening sessions to regional institutional programs and met with human rights institutes working in Marajó, among them the Dom José Luis Azcona institute, linked to Sister Henriqueta, and the Peabiru institute. It also spoke with the Clinic for Combating Slave Labor at the Federal University of Pará, a frequent partner in efforts to identify and rescue workers held in conditions analogous to slavery in the Amazon region. Izabella Ramos Pinto, auxiliary judge to the presidency of the Superior Labor Court, stressed that coordination among public agencies, universities, and civil society organizations is decisive if itinerant initiatives are not to remain isolated episodes.

Itinerant justice in Brazil has an established history dating back to the 1990s, when it began to take its own shape in states in the North and Northeast. It was recognized by the Federal Constitution through an express provision for decentralizing judicial activities. In labor matters, the format has gained traction more recently, through joint service drives (mutirões) that typically combine conciliation hearings, social security assistance, issuance of documents, educational talks, and intake of complaints about child labor and the exploitation of adult workers. Having several institutions present at once shortens response times and brings the State closer to communities that, in many cases, need days to reach a courthouse.

The model speaks to current debates about the role of the judiciary in areas where the state’s presence is intermittent. Beyond the assistance component, the strategy has an educational dimension. By raising awareness of labor rights among local leaders and municipal officials, it seeks to create permanent channels for referrals, even after the delegation’s in-person schedule ends. The results of the May edition should show whether the chosen format can overcome the geographic limits typical of the region and produce lasting effects, a topic this portal will continue to follow in its coverage of the Labor Courts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Itinerant Justice in the Labor Courts?

It is a set of judicial activities and support services offered outside the courts’ usual locations, especially in communities with little judicial infrastructure. It typically includes conciliation hearings, public assistance, talks, and educational activities. The goal is to expand access to justice and reduce the geographic and economic barriers that make it harder for people to exercise their rights.

When and where will the next program in Marajó take place?

The next edition is scheduled for May 18 to 22 in the municipalities of Breves, Melgaço, and Portel, in the Marajó archipelago, in the state of Pará. The week of April 7 to 11 was devoted to the preparatory phase, with listening sessions for the local population and dialogue with local officials. The final schedule of activities will be announced after the reports from the preliminary stage are consolidated.

Who is involved in organizing this initiative?

The coordination involves the Superior Council of Labor Justice, the Superior Labor Court, and the Regional Labor Court of the 8th Region, with support from the National Council of Justice through the Legal Amazon Cooperative. There are also partnerships with city governments, child protection councils, and human rights institutes such as Peabiru and Dom José Luis Azcona, as well as the Clinic for Combating Slave Labor at the Federal University of Pará.

As informações deste artigo são de caráter informativo e não substituem consulta jurídica individualizada. Cada caso possui particularidades que exigem análise específica.