e Paz)

Number 115, February 03, 1994.

CHILDREN

- New Americas Watch Report on Violence Against Children to be

Released.

Americas Watch will release on February 10 a 120-page report

on the extermination of children and adolescents in Brazil. The

report, "Final Justice" states that between 1988 and 1991, 5,644

children between the ages of 5 and 17 "died a violent death".

The human rights organization concentrated its investigations in

the states of Espirito Santo, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao

Paulo. It learned that in Rio, extermination groups charge from

US$10 to US$40 to kill a minor. In the Rio de Janeiro city of

Duque de Caxias, 2,115 homicides of youths occurred between 1973

and 1991, and 90% of these crimes have not yet been solved. In

Sao Paulo, 76% of those killed were students or workers.

The report names police violence as one of the main factors

for the tremendous number of killings. The Military Police of Sao

Paulo state killed 1,470 persons in 1992 alone, twice the number

of deaths in the wars in the Middle East. Americas Watch stated

that adolescents whom the police wish to "eliminate", but without

being blamed for the killing, suffer the following technique:

police officers place the youth in the front seat of the police

car, and stop near a point where drug trafficking occurs. "This

gives the impression that the adolescent is an informant (for the

police)," says the report. The youth is then released and soon

killed by the drug traffickers.

Americas Watch calls special attention to the work of Military

Justice prosecutors Marco Ferreira Lima, and Stella Kuhlmann,

who, in their denouncements of police violence, have suffered

death threats. Three months ago, a bomb exploded at Lima's home.

Since January 26, Kuhlmann has had bodyguards.

Violence in Brazil, says the report, is due to poverty and

"the complex social forces which create a situation where extra-

legal justice is an acceptable method for protecting communities.

One cannot hope for solutions, as it is apparent that the police

are responsible for a significant number of the killings."

- Child Labor in Sugar cane Fields Creates a Generation of

Mutilated Children.

A report by the Recife-based Josue de Castro Center, in

conjunction with Save the Children, revealed that child labor in

the sugar cane industry in Brazil's Northeast has produced a

generation of "the mutilated", who have a life expentancy of 46

years, 17 below the national average.

In the state of Pernambuco, nearly 54 thousand children

between the ages of 7 and 13 work 44 hours per week in the sugar

cane fields. They represent one-fourth of the labor force in the

sugar cane industry. 57% of them suffer serious work-related

accidents. Sociologist Teresa Wanderley Correa de Araujo,

coordinator of the study, said, "This is a portrait of Brazil in

its most archaic nature, where physical mutilation and the

mutilation of one's citizenry predominate."

According to the "Folha de S. Paulo", which published a story

on the report in its January 31 edition, this tragic scenario is

seen as a just a natural part of life by the parents of these

children. The study showed that 84% of the parents also started

to work in the fields at an early age, and believe that their

children should follow the same fate.

Most of the children receive no pay for their work, and few

are able to attend school. They are expected to help their

parents meet the quota of cutting 2.4 tons of cane each day

during harvest time. In the Zona da Mata area of Pernambuco, this

work pays CR$10.9 thousand per month, about one-third of the

monthly minimum salary.

ECOLOGY

- Recent ecology news.

The following is a summary of the news items carried by the principal Brazilian newspapers during the last week dealing with ecology. The date is given for each summary and the newspapers are identified as follows:

FSP = Folha de Sao Paulo.

GL = O Globo.

GM = Gazeta Mercantil.

JB = Jornal do Brasil.

OESP = O Estado de Sao Paulo.

January 25, 1994.

- An oil spillage from a pipeline in the Campo de Albacoram region in the Bacia de Campos allowed 2.200 barrels of petroleum to spill into the sea affecting an area of 450 square kms. approximately 120 kms. from the Brazilian coast. (GL).

- 17 indigenist organizations protested against gold-mining activities in the Rio Negro region. The document released by the organizations claims that such activities already caused huge environmental damages in the Amazonian region. (GL).

January 26,

- During the last 11 years the shanty town (favela) population of the city of Rio de Janeiro grew by 33% while the non shanty town population grew by 3%. (JB).

- The proposed law dealing with patents will most likely not be voted by Congress by the final date which is February 28. The U.S.A. have indicated that they will study the possibility of imposing restrictions against Brazilian exports if the law is not voted. (GM).

January 27.

- Representatives of the government and of various industrial sectors principally those linked to timber, leather and chemical products are working on a project to create an environmental certificate which would be accepted internationally. (GM).

- The court order determining the expulsion by the police of 250 indians from the Jaguapire reserve in Mato Grosso do Sul was suspended by the Regional Federal Tribunal. Tension is still widespread on the reserve and the indians did not withdraw the threat of collective suicide if they are expelled from the area. (OESP). See our report of this question in NEWS FROM BRAZIL of January 20 last.

January 28.

- 84 conservation areas are being threatened by the expansion of the shanty towns (favelas) in the city of Rio de Janeiro. 800 guards are needed to control these areas; at the moment only 11 are employed. (JB).

- The nuclear agreements not yet voted by the Senate are one of the topics to be dealt with by the Brazilian Chancellor on his trip to Germany. If the agreements are accepted by the Senate, areas of cooperation on the nuclear question will be developed between both governments. (GM).

- The death of thousands of fish on a kilometer long stretch of the river Caracol in the State of Rio Grande do Sul was probably provoked by the illegal dumping of chemicals into the river. (GM).

January 29.

- The rains are helping to spread the cholera virus in the State of Piaui where contaminated water is used by the population. Already this year 203 cases of cholera and one death have been registered in the state. (FSP).

- The biodiversity and climatic changes agreement was unanimously voted by the Brazilian Senate thus removing Brazil from the list of countries which had not signed the agreement. (JB).

- The granting of an environmental license to the Rio Capim Quimica company will be discussed during a public audience. The company plans to extract kaolin on a large scale from an area situated approximately 40 kms. from Belem, State of Para. (FSP).

- Australian, British and United States companies have made an agreement to build the gas line between Brazil and Bolivia. (OESP).

- The Colombian government hopes to expel 300 Brazilian gold prospectors who illegally use dredges to extract gold. (JB).

January 30.

- The Rio de Janeiro Fishers' Trade Union want to reserve 20% of the fishing area in the bays of Guanabara, Ilha Grande and Sepetiba as natural breeding grounds for fish and for the recuperation of stock. According to the trade union, more than a thousand people are engaged in predatory fishing in the area without authorization from Ibama.(JB).

January 31.

- The Fishing Institute of Sao Paulo is preoccupied with the increase of the accidental catching of sharks in the nets of boats engaged in tuna fishing and hope to make recommendations to Ibama. (JB).

- The World Society for the Protection of Animals plans to visit Brazil to check out the treatment given to domestic and wild animals as well as to laboratory animals. (JB).

INDIGENOUS QUESTIONS

- New anti-indigenist campaign launched.

A new campaign against the constitutional rights of the indigenous peoples was launched last week by the Brazilian press and Congress. In a note released on January 26, the Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI) claims that the Globo television channel led this initiative. During the last week this channel has aired false and distorted reports about the demarcation of indigenous lands in the Amazon region.

The Globo news program which is the most popular news program in Brazil, claimed that the indigenous areas were increased because of new mineral reserves discovered there. CIMI claims that the contrary is true. In the Yanomami case for example more than 20 years were necessary so that their territory might be demarcated. One of the reasons which delayed the demarcation was the discovery of mineral deposits in the area. The discovery of the deposits provoked the invasion of the area by thousands of prospectors. As a consequence, 15% of the yanomami were decimated by diseases and violence provoked by the prospectors.

CIMI believes that the motive for this campaign is the possibility of the alteration of the chapter of the constitution which deals with the indians to favor mining companies, timber companies and other groups with economic interests. The constitution is being revised at the moment.

Globo even used an old discredited document referring to the World Council of Christian Churches (Conselho Mundial de Igrejas Cristas). Such an organization does not exist and CIMI believes that Globo's intent was to confuse this non existent organization with the highly respected World Council of Churches in public opinion. Globo claimed in its' news report that false missionaries belonging to the World Council of Christian Churches were engaged in the demarcation campaign of the indigenous territories so that they could reserve the minerals in such areas for certain European countries. CIMI claims that this is a tactic; raising the question of national sovereignty will help constitutionally to open indigenous territories to groups interested in mining, timber extraction and other economic activities. According to the present constitution, such activities may only take place in indigenous areas with the authorization of Congress.

Fearing that the indigenous peoples will lose many of their rights during the constitutional revision, CIMI requests that a campaign takes place to guarantee such rights in the revised constitution.

On January 27, The Brazilian Association of Brazilian NGOs, (ABONG), representing a total of 150 such organizations published a statement criticizing Globo's treatment of the indigenous question in its news program on January 24.

The statement says "The real facts however show once again that despite advances in the democratic order, powerful economic groups have again used the means of communication to confuse public opinion, distorting information in order to defend their interests....... What interests certain economic groups is to pressure the National Congress so that mining activities will be easier to carry out in indigenous lands. For the NGOs what is at stake is the survival of the traditional peoples of the region already affected by the presence of illegal miners and gold-prospectors".

RURAL QUESTIONS

- CPT denounces torture of six rural workers in State of Tocantins.

The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) of Araguaia - Tocantins in a document released on February 01 denounced that six rural workers resident on the Alegria ranch, municipality of Couto Magalhaes, State of Tocantins were cruelly tortured by the police after having been arrested. They were accused of the murder of a town councilor Adercio Rodriques da Silva, also known as "Piau".

The Alegria ranch was occupied in 1993 by approximately 17 families. It consists of an area of 1.695 hectares and its ownership had been claimed by Gentil Peixoto de Oliveira who was granted a court order last August to have the families removed. The families later returned to the ranch. Comments in the region suggest that Oliveira had sold the ranch to councilor Silva and to the former mayor and father of the chief of police of the municipality, Osmar Jose de Souza as well as to another individual known as Osmar. Other local comments indicate that Oliveira contracted the above mentioned individuals to remove the families from the ranch. Whether these comments are true or not, it is known that the manager of the ranch, Jose Alves da Rocha, tried to contract a gun-man known as Luisinho last October to kill the settlers. Luisinho did not accept the contract and he denounced the manager to the families concerned. On their part, they registered an official complaint at the police station. On January 22 last when Silva was on his way to the area he was assassinated.

Following the death of Silva the military and civil police carried out a campaign of torture and beatings of the families on the Alegria ranch. When the CPT heard of the beatings and torture they demanded a medical examination of those who had been allegedly abused by the police. The chief of police in charge of the case, Nilzeree Venancio Fonseca, did not wish to make the police inquiry available to the CPT. On January 24, the Federation of Agricultural Workers in the State of Tocantins (FETAET) contacted the governor of the state, Moises Avelino requesting him to intervene so that violence would be avoided and the well-being of the families would be respected. On January 26, Bishop Heriberto Hermes made a similar request to the governor. Until the date of publication of the statement by the CPT (February 01) no initiative had been taken by the state government to avoid beatings and torture of the families in question or to investigate the accusations brought against the police.

The CPT requests that protest messages be sent to the governor. The address is the following:

Dr. Moises Avelino,

Governador do Estado de Tocantins,

Palacio Araguaia,

77.000-000 Palmas,

TO., Brazil

Fax: 063-862-1201.

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