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ESCR / Statements / Brazil / 2010 / October

Brazil: Addressing the Criminalisation of Poverty in Brazil. Release of the report on OMCT’s field mission to Brazil to evaluate progress made in implementing the recommendations of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

OMCT released today its 40 page report on the results of a mission to Brazil organised with the Brazilian NGO Justica Global in order to evaluate the Government’s implementation of the concluding observations and recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
 
In April 2009, OMCT, Justiça Global and the Movimento Nacional de Meninose Meninas de Rua submitted an alternative report to the Committee entitled The Criminalisation Of Poverty.
That report asserted that violence is an inherent element of poverty in Brazil, disproportionately affecting the poorest communities in urban and rural areas alike. The report also includes a series of recommendations aimed at reducing this violence and moving toward a more equitable society.
 
A number of the themes addressed in the report were taken up by the Committee in its concluding observations and recommendations, including that, “the State party take all necessary measures to combat the culture of violence and impunity prevalent in the State party and to ensure the protection of human rights defenders against any violence, threats, retaliation, pressure or any arbitrary action as a consequence of their activities […].”
 
OMCT together with Justiça Global carried out a follow-up mission to Brazil in March 2010. That mission found that while steps were indeed being taken to address the culture of violence, serious concern were expressed at a number of serious issues that needed to be addressed.
 
Regarding the introduction of Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora (UPPs) in the city of Rio de Janiero the report acknowledged that the rate of homicides in areas of the city which have received UPPs has dropped markedly. It also noted the importance of promoting initiatives that link public security to the provision of socio-economic infrastructure in poor urban areas. However, it expressed concern at the criteria by which UPP areas are selected, the lack of meaningful community participation in decision-making within UPPs, the implications for residents of the rising cost of living in UPP areas and, crucially, human rights abuses perpetrated by the community police in neighbourhoods where UPPs have been established. It also drawe attention to the fact that UPPs are intended to complement, not substitute, ongoing violent police actions in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
 
Concerning the Third National Programme for Human Rights (approved on 21 December 2009, the report welcomed the wide-ranging measures identified therein, and particularly those aimed at reducing inequality and promoting public security, access to justice and the fight against violence. However, it expressed concern at the general nature of many of the actions proposed in the programme and the lack of concrete guidance on how to implement these actions. It urged that a significant effort be made at all levels of government in Brazil to ensure that the Third National Programme does not become an empty text, abstracted from the daily reality of discrimination, exclusion and violence experienced by many of Brazil’s poorest citizens.
 
Other issues of concern addressed in the report include the continued hold of militia groups on certain areas of Rio de Janeiro, the ongoing threat of violence against human rights defenders and members of social movements, and the potential impact on human rights of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro’s Choque de Ordem initiative.
 
Further, the follow-up report urged that human rights, rather than being an after thought, become an essential starting point for the socio-economic and security initiatives in Brazil lack the solid foundation that a human rights-based approach would provide.
 
The report also made seven specific recommendations to the Government of Brazil and three to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. With regard to the Committee, the report suggested that the Committee remain vigilant regarding any possible human rights violations in connection with the preparation of the coming World Cup and Olympic Games to be hosted by Brazil.
 
The Criminalisation of Poverty in Brazil Alternative report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
 
 
October 2010 

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Date: October 1, 2010
Activity: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Type: Statements
Country: Brazil

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