Number 408, July 13, 2000.
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In this week's issue:
>NEWS BRIEFS
- Court decision allows shipment of genetically-altered corn to be unloaded
- Prisoners revolt in Curitiba
- MST members imprisoned in Recife
>HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
- Sao Paulo's juvenile detention system -- A human rights crisis, not a public security issue
>AFRO-BRAZILIAN ISSUES
- Descendants of slaves continue to maintain their traditions
NEWS BRIEFS
- Court decision allows shipment of genetically-altered corn to be unloaded
A decision handed down by the Supreme Court reversed two decisions from lower courts which had banned the unloading of a shipment of 38 tons of genetically-altered corn. The corn, to be sold as stock feed, has been sitting in a Recife port since June 20th when Idec (Brazilian Institute for Consumer Defense) and Greenpeace obtained a court order prohibiting its delivery. "The government understands that Brazil cannot be on the sidelines of this technology, nor any other kind of technology that may bring benefits to the country and to its citizens," said the court. Idec and Greenpeace both condemned the decision, claiming that the government is only acting in the interests of big business, and not in the interests of the health of citizens.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
July 7 & 8, 2000
- Prisoners revolt in Curitiba
Nearly 800 prisoners in the state of Curitiba revolted and held ten people as hostages. The prisoners were complaining of overcrowded conditions and were demanding transfers. According to the state of Parana, the prison can hold up to 800 prisoners, but according to the Union of Prison Agents, the prison can only support 300. The prisoners eventually released the hostages, and no injuries were reported.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
July 12, 2000
- MST members imprisoned in Recife
Twenty-one members of the MST (Movement of rural workers Without Land) were imprisoned yesterday afternoon during an eviction. The judge, Sonia Maria Guerra, determined that the MSTers are to be held without bail after committing a "crime of civil disobedience." The land in question was occupied by the MST for the first time 3 years ago, and since then, there have been 11 evictions. The MST leader in Pernambuco, Jaime Amorim, plans to enter a request for a habeas corpus. "They were imprisoned for disobedience, but there is no proof that they are the same people who participated in previous occupations," commented Amorim.
Source: Alternex
July 10, 2000
HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
- Sao Paulo's juvenile detention system -- A human rights crisis, not a public security issue
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
AI Index AMR 19/018/2000
News Service Nr. 132
12 July 2000
Brazil
Sao Paulo's juvenile detention system -- A human rights crisis, not a
public security issue
The Sao Paulo state government is ignoring federal legislation
protecting the rights of young offenders, and abandoning hundreds of
adolescents to torture, ill-treatment and cruel, inhuman and degrading
conditions of detention, a new Amnesty International report says(BRAZIL:
A Waste of Lives: FEBEM Juvenile Detention Centres, São Paulo. A human
rights crisis, not a public security issue. AI Index: AMR 19/014/00).
The state's juvenile detention system, Foundation for the Well-Being of
Minors (FEBEM), collapsed into crisis last October when years of
overcrowding and ill-treatment led to a series of violent riots in one
of FEBEM's detention centres. Since then the promised reforms have not
been delivered by the authorities.
"Even the warders admit that violence against inmates is the norm," said
Julia Rochester, Researcher on Brazil. "Everyone who goes into these
detention centres -- lawyers, judges, health and safety inspectors,
parliamentarians, human rights activists -- comes out reporting
beatings, humiliation, untreated illness, overcrowding, poor hygiene and
complete inactivity. The government's refusal to acknowledge the root
causes of the current crisis is astounding."
Amnesty International's report, A Waste of Lives, concludes that the Sao
Paulo government is trying to shift attention away from torture and
ill-treatment in order to pander to public fears about violent crime.
Despite almost weekly reports of beatings of large numbers of boys, the
authorities continue to characterize the crisis purely as a public
security issue.
Millions of reais have been spent on installing security equipment, but
issues such as institutionalized violence, chronic understaffing, poor
training and insuffient basic hygiene supplies are being sidestepped.
Since the crisis, the Sao Paulo government has embarked on a series of
transfers of large numbers of adolescents into the adult prison system
and into hastily constructed new units. During these transfers boys have
been forced to run gauntlets of warders and police armed with sticks. In
one incident alone a forensic expert examined 80 boys and found marks
and bruises from beatings.
Punishments in FEBEM's overcrowded and under-staffed detention centres
are arbitrary and often designed to humiliate. A simple offence, such as
speaking during a meal, may result in punishments ranging from
confiscation of toothbrushes - often the only personal item a boy has -
to severe beatings.
In the absence of clear rules and regulations governing discipline,
punishments are meted out at the whim of warders, often to an entire
wing of detainees. Several boys have died in recent years following
beatings by warders. In one incident a boy died when warders set fire to
a dormitory, in order to force out inmates who had barricaded themselves
in. Boys have also died at the hands of fellow-inmates when FEBEM has
lost control of detention units.
In the last ten years, parliamentary commissions of inquiry, human
rights commissions and children's rights organizations have put forward
numerous reports detailing violations and making concrete proposals for
reform. These have not only been largely ignored by the government, but
official statements to the media have sought to shift the blame for the
crisis onto some of these children's rights advocates, by publicly
accusing them of inciting riots.
Brazil's celebrated Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA), launched
ten years ago, regulates the treatment of young offenders in line with
international standards. Supported by Sao Paulo's juvenile court, Public
Prosecutors have brought two civil actions and nine petitions against
the Sao Paulo government and FEBEM in the last eight years. They have
called for young offenders' basic human rights to be guaranteed and for
juvenile detention units to be brought into line with the law.
The government has appealed in every single case, and in all but one
case, the State Appeals Court has supported the government by upholding
the appeal. "The ECA is clearly being broken, and hundreds of boys are
being tortured and ill-treated. It is outrageous that the higher court
should allow the government to circumvent the law like this," Julia
Rochester said.
Amnesty International is calling on the Sao Paulo government to take
immediate steps to address the human rights crisis in FEBEM. These
should include disciplinary measures against FEBEM staff involved in
torture and ill-treatment, as well as the recruitment and training of
sufficient staff, and an immediate investment in infrastructure to end
over-crowding and poor hygiene.
The Federal Government should urgently undertake a review of the
application of the ECA throughout Brazil and take action to address its
failure to protect the basic human rights of young offenders.
ENDS.../
Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street,
WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
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AFRO-BRAZILIAN ISSUES
- Descendants of slaves continue to maintain their traditions
by Antonio Carlos de Faria
In the Beleza mountain range, three hours from Rio de Janeiro, 113 descendants of slaves live with the challenge of receiving benefits of modern life without losing the traditions of their ancestors. Electricity just arrived last month at the Sao Jose da Serra ranch, 55 kilometers from the border with the state of Minas Gerais. In spite of this, none of the 14 houses have traded their kerosene lamps for electric lamps. The leaders fear that this may cause cultural changes.
The group is the seventh generation of slaves who were bought in 1830 to work in the coffee plantation. Living in relative isolation, the group holds on tight to its traditions, live in rustic housing, and practice a religion based on Catholicism and an African religion called Umbanda. "Without these, we would be just one more poor black village," said Zeferina do Nascimiento Fernandes, 79, who shares leadership of the community with Manoel Seabra, 80. Zeferina is a "mae-de-santo," a religious leader, while Manoel specializes in herbal healing.
On the feast of St. Peter, the inhabitants of the community do not work--it is a sacred day and is commemorated by dancing the "jongo" the whole night. The jongo is an Afro-Brazilian dance in which participants chant with the accompaniment of drums. The dancers form a circle while a couple dance in the middle. The drums are made from tree trunks and sculptured with fire, a craft which dates back to slave times. The songs, called "pontos" are in a language with can only be decoded by a certain few.
The community is recognized by the Palmares Foundation as a historic, cultural site. Currently, the government is doing studies of the property to see if it can be appropriated and land title be given to the community. The current owner is Friedrich Wolfagang Derschum,77, a retired general of the air force, who said that he would not agree with the appropriation, but would be willing to offer a fifth of the land to the community. In the meantime, as the inhabitants do not have any official rights to the land, they cannot obtain from the government financing for planting of crops or other developmental projects. Currently, the community members survive through subsistence farming and by doing day labor in neighboring communities.
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