Human Rights In Brazil Essay, Research Paper
The population in Brazil consists of 144 million people.
Brazil is one of the fastest-growing nations in the Western
Hemisphere. Its population is increasing at the rate of about 2% a
year. The constitution of Brazil gives the president tremendous
powers. For example, the president may intervene in affairs of
Brazil’s states. The chief executive may even create new states from
existing ones.
Brazil has three main ethnic groups-whites, blacks, and people
of mixed ancestry. Most of the whites are from Europe. According to
the Brazilian government whites make up about 60% of the nation’s
population, and people of mixed races form about 30%. However, the
government of Brazil counts many lightskinned people of mixed ancestry
as white. Brazil’s ethnic groups generally get along well with one
another. Racial discrimination in Brazil if far less widespread than
that in many other countries with people of several races. But
Brazilians of European descent have had better educational
opportunities. As a result, they hold most of the higher jobs in
government and industry. Many of the non-Europeans, particularly
blacks, have excelled in the arts, entertainment and sports.
Brazil’s prison system system is in crisis. Four years ago, in
its 1990 urban violence report Amnesty International described the
prisons as being at breaking point, holding double their official
capacity in “inhuman” conditions. Four years later the situation
has not improved. In some respects, it has deteriorated. Overcrowding,
lack of medical and legal assistance, torture and ill-treatment of
inmates and harassment of visitors are endemic. A frightening and
rising proportion of prisoners carry the HIV virus. In the Women’s
Prison of Soo Paulom, around 33% of the inmates are infected with the
virus, while in the male prison the figure reaches 27% of the prison
population. A study published in 1994 shows that the majority of
prisoners are yourn, poor, and black.
A group of inmates in the Desembargador Vidal Pessoa Central
Prison of Manaus, Amazonas held a peaceful protest against conditions
in es called in military police shock-troops. They reportedly beat the
inmates, who had taken refuge in their cells, with batons, as well as
hitting and kicking them. Subsequently they locked the inmates in
their cells and threw tear gas grenades in after them.
For prisoners to complain to officials about their treatment
takes enormous courage. In Recife, Pernambuco state, on 11 May
1993, prisoners told a visiting delegation in the Barreto Campelo
Prison of the brutality they faced. The prisoners reported incidents
of torture and named the alleged torturers, even though they were
in the same room. The inmates expressed their fears of reprisals from
the prison staff. Some of them told the delegates that the director of
the prison had threatened them with severe punishment if they dared to
speak out. The torture they described included beatings, near
drowning, death threats and electric shocks.
In his report on the visit to Recife, one of the delegates,
the President of the National Council for Penal and Prison Policy,
noted that despite persistent reports in the local press about
ill-treatment in prisons in Pernambuco, the Judge of Penal Sentences
and the Secretary of Justice for Pernambuco claimed to have no
official knowledge of the prisoners’ complaints. He asked the state
authorities to investigate the prisoners’ allegations, but no
information has emerged about any investigation.
Two incidents involving prisoners with AIDS were reported in
S?o Paulo in 1994. On 27 March, a woman prisoner who was in the final
stages of AIDS in the Central Hospital of the Penitentiary System, was
reportedly beaten by a prison warden. The woman, named Leci Nazareth
da Silva, who was in great pain, was calling for the assistance of a
nurse when, just after midnight, a warden came to her cell, shouted at
her to shut up, and hit her in the face. According to the testimonies
of other women inmates, after the incident Leci Nazareth da Silva’s
mouth and lips were swollen and she was bleeding. The warden
reportedly threatened the other inmates with reprisals if they dared
to report the incident.
On 31 March 1994, Jose['] Roberto dos Santos, also an AIDS
sufferer, was severely beaten in the Casa de Detenc[,]?o, in S?o
Paulo. According to his written testimony, he was verbally insulted
and physically abused by a prison warden in an argument. When he
reported the incident t
again and beat him with an iron bar. The prison officer then ordered
Jose['] Roberto dos Santos to be taken to a senior official’s office
in another part of the prison, where he was met by a group of about 13
prison wardens who punched him, beat him with iron bars and kicked
him. As a result, he began to cough up blood and was forced to wipe
the blood from the floor with his own hands. On 1 April, a prison
chaplain visited him in the infirmary and saw that Jose['] Roberto dos
Santos had bruises on his chest, back and upper limbs. He had a
swelling on his right hand side above the kidney and wounds on both
legs. Amnesty International knows of no action taken against those
responsible.
Brazilians are now pushing for a profound, ethical reform of
their political system. The peaceful and demorcatic presidential
impeachment in 1992 was followed by a thorough congressional
investigation of a vast budget corruption scandel affecting several
members of the Brrazilian Congress. As a result, several Congressmen
were unseated on the grounds of “unetheical behavior,” reaffirming the
stance that Brazilians want a corruption-free political environment.
In a related development, Brazilian elevtoral legislation was updated
and imporved with significant revisions made in the areas of
disclosure of political contributors and in accountability. The 1994
general elections were carried out in a climate of democratic freedom
and high civic expectations and the outcome serves to reinforce the
strength of democracy in Brazil.
As in other democratic societies, there is an almost permanent
political debate in Brazil about how best to deal with the country’s
social and economic challenges. Areas of special concern are income
distribution, fiscal and social securtiy reform, and economic
modernization. Finding solutions to these festering problems is not
easy. It will require the elimination of the remnants of old political
structures inherited from less democratic periods in Brazilian
history. President Itamar Franco, who was completed his two-year term
with an 86% approval rating from his fellow citizens, and President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso have both pledged and worked hard to ensure
the modernization of Brazil’s political system.
According to the Institute for Applied Economic Research ant
the Ministry of Planning, one quarter of the 60 million Brazilians
aged 18 and younger-15 million children and adolescents-live below the
poverty line in family units with a per capita monthly income of US
$18.00 or less. One third of these youths do not attend school, even
in the age group (7-14) for which school is mandatory. Roughly two
million children aged 10-14 work, which is forbidden by law. An
estimated 200,000 to 700,000 youth either live on the streets or spend
their days there. More that threee million children live in households
headed by women. In recent years, this sad picture has prompted a
significant mobilization of both government and non-government enities
to improve the situation of poor children and adolescents. Not only
does human compassion demand attention for destitute youths, but a
provision of the 1988 Constitution recognizes that children and
adolescents must be the primary target of social programs and public
assistance due to their special vulnerability. These constitutional
provisions have been further developed in the basic law known as the
“Statue for Children and Adolescents.” This Statue, enacted in 1990,
has been praised by UNICEF as one of the moset comprehensive in the
world.
Government programs, including the installation of hundreds of
Centers for Comprehensive Child Care, address basic needs such as
education, distrubution of nutritious meals, health care and the
promotion of children’s rights. The “Pact for the Children”, co-signed
by the President of Brazil and 24 state governors, set up a “Plan of
Action” which is intended to fully implement the constitutional and
legal provisions that provide for protection of children and
adolescents. Several fedrral agencies oversee the execution of
government programs for children and adolescents designed to give to
Brazilian yourth opportunities for a better life, education, shelter,
and love. Moreover, as mandated by law, 21 states and 1,654
municipalities have established special Councils for Children’s
Rights. Several hot-lines are operating throughout Brazil making it
easier for children to seek help and report instances of violence,
neglect or abuse.