Number 329, December 9, 1998.
Visit our home page: http://www.oneworld.org/sejup/
Our principal topics this week are:
HUMAN RIGHTS
- Hunger Strike Continues Among Street Vendors in S o Paulo
- Brazil Violates Human Rights, Says NGO
LAND ISSUES
- Government Lacks Initiative for Agrarian Reform
INDIGENOUS ISSUES
- Cuts in budgets bring sickness to Xingu
POLITICS
- Measure changes the rules of fiscal exemption for philanthropic entities
HUMAN RIGHTS
- Hunger Strike Continues Among Street Vendors in S o Paulo
As talks are breaking down between city officials and street vendors, so are the health conditions of some 20 street vendors who began a hunger strike last week. The strike began after city officials prevented the vendors from selling their goods on the public sidewalks in Bras, a neighborhood of S o Paulo. Most of the vendors are unemployed, and just doing whatever they can to make a living. The protesters are spending their days and nights on the sidewalk, sleeping on cardboard, and enduring 37C heat during the days. Two of the women have already suffered heart problems and were taken to the hospital. Strikers also are feeling very vulnerable as the police are offering no protection, and at times harrassing the strikers. ôI donÆt know what to expect. We are afraid of the night. We could be robbed. But we fear more the civil police, who already threw water on us the first night,ö commented one striker.
Source: Folha de S o Paulo, 4 December 1998
- Brazil Violates Human Rights, Says NGO
Brazil was counted as one of 38 countries that violates human rights in a report published a human rights watch group. The group collected cases of people arbitrarily put in prison, threatened, or killed for having tried to defend human rights. There are now 200 cases considered ôurgentö. Although BrazilÆs number of violations is not as dramatic as countries such as Columbia or Mexico, it is nonetheless a country of concern as ôthe repressions are constant, and there seems to be a lack of political will to prevent such incidents,ö asserted the report.
Source: Folha de S o Paulo, 4 December 1998
LAND ISSUES
- Government Lacks Initiative for Agrarian Reform
The Seat of Studies and Research of Agrarian Reforms found that in reality, the government is not doing nearly as much for agrarian reform as are ordinary Brazilian citizens. The research found that of the 352 land settlements between 1994-97, 304 were begun through occupations by the MST (Movement of Those Without Land) or other such groups, leaving only 48 begun through government initiative.
Source: Sem Fronteiras, December 1998
INDIGENOUS ISSUES
- Cuts in budgets bring sickness to Xingu
Recent cuts in budget for Funai (National Foundation for the Indigenous) have greatly damaged the quality of health of the indigenous of Xingu, a reservation in the state of Mato Grosso and home to 3,600 indigenous of 15 different ethnic groups. Since August, Funai has not delivered its R$105,000 monthly payment to the reservation, leaving the indigenous without money to deal with sicknesses caused from malaria and sexually transmitted diseases. In one month, there has already been reported 23 cases of malaria, compared to the 20 reported for the entire year of 1997. There have been 31 cases of sickness related to sexually transmitted diseases between May and August, compared to 37 for the entire year of 1997. Many of the health post are lacking basic medicines such as penicillin and other antibiotics. There is only one doctor residing on the reservation, an area that covers 3.27 million hectares of land. The only emergency plane comes from Bras lia, the capital, a three hour flight to take a patient to the nearest well-equipped hospital. Often, the plane is also used for other purposes and not always available. In October, one indigenous child died from a respiratory infection after waiting for the plane for three days.
Source: Folha de S o Paulo, 7 December 1998
POLITICS
- Measure changes the rules of fiscal exemption for philanthropic entities
An agreement between government and opposition leaders permitted the approval by Congress of a provisional measure that limits the fiscal exemption of philanthopic organizations. To have access to a 100% exemption, the entity must have provided all services free of charge and in a manner exclusive to social services provided to the needy, such as organizations that attend to the mentally ill. Non-profits that work in the areas of education and health will receive an exemption proportional to the services they provide free of charge. A hospital, for example, which provides 30% of its services to needy people will get an exemption proportional to this percentage. In the case of schools, the exemption will be proportional to the number of full scholarships given to students. A non-profit university that has 1,000 students and gives full scholarships to 100, for example, will pay 18%, and not 20%. Representatives of schools and community universities protested against this mesaure. According to them, the formula of the government will mean ôchaos.ö They wanted exemptions to include partial scholarships that reduce the monthly payments of students by 30 to 50%.
Source: Folha de S o Paulo, 10 December 1998
The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited.
The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited. If you wish to contact us, send a message to braziljusticenet@braziljusticenet.org. If you wish to be removed from our email list, go to http://braziljusticenet.org/subscribe.htm, type in your email address, and click "unsubscribe" button.