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 amission to Brazil organised with the Brazilian NGO Justica Global in order toevaluate the Government’s implementation of the concluding observations andrecommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In April 2009, OMCT, JustiçaGlobal and the Movimento Nacional de Meninose Meninas de Rua submittedan alternative report to the Committee entitled The Criminalisation Of Poverty.Thatreport asserted that violence is an inherent element of poverty in Brazil,disproportionately affecting the poorest communities in urban and rural areasalike. The report also includes a series of recommendations aimed at reducingthis violence and moving toward a more equitable society. Anumber of the themes addressed in the report were taken up by the Committee inits concluding observations and recommendations, including that, “the Stateparty take all necessary measures to combat the culture of violence andimpunity prevalent in the State party and to ensure the protection of humanrights defenders against any violence, threats, retaliation, pressure or anyarbitrary action as a consequence of their activities […].” OMCTtogether with Justiça Global carried out a follow-up mission to Brazil in March2010. That mission found that while steps were indeed being taken to addressthe culture of violence, serious concern were expressed at a number of seriousissues that needed to be addressed. Regardingthe introduction of Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora (UPPs) in the city of Riode Janiero the report acknowledged thatthe rate of homicides in areas of the city which have received UPPs has droppedmarkedly. It also noted the importance of promoting initiatives that linkpublic security to the provision of socio-economic infrastructure in poor urbanareas. However, it expressed concern at the criteria by which UPP areas areselected, the lack of meaningful community participation in decision-makingwithin UPPs, the implications for residents of the rising cost of living in UPPareas and, crucially, human rights abuses perpetrated by the community policein neighbourhoods where UPPs have been established. It also drawe attention tothe fact that UPPs are intended to complement, not substitute, ongoing violentpolice actions in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Concerningthe Third National Programme for Human Rights (approved on 21 December 2009,the report welcomed the wide-ranging measures identified therein, andparticularly those aimed at reducing inequality and promoting public security,access to justice and the fight against violence. However, it expressed concernat the general nature of many of the actions proposed in the programme and thelack of concrete guidance on how to implement these actions. It urged that asignificant effort be made at all levels of government in Brazil to ensure thatthe Third National Programme does not become an empty text, abstracted from thedaily reality of discrimination, exclusion and violence experienced by many ofBrazil’s poorest citizens. Otherissues of concern addressed in the report include the continued hold of militiagroups on certain areas of Rio de Janeiro, the ongoing threat of violenceagainst human rights defenders and members of social movements, and thepotential impact on human rights of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro’s Choquede Ordem initiative. Further,the follow-up report urged that human rights, rather than being an afterthought, become an essential starting point for the socio-economic and securityinitiatives in Brazil lack the solid foundation that a human rights-basedapproach would provide. Thereport also made seven specific recommendations to the Government of Brazil andthree to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. With regard tothe Committee, the report suggested that the Committee remain vigilantregarding any possible human rights violations in connection with thepreparation 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 October2010