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.
October
2010