This week´s edition of SEJUP focuses on Brazilian laws related to Domestic Violence.  We have also included some updates on a few stories we have been covering on the massacres in Minas Gerais and Para as well as an update on transgenics.

Domestic Violence in Brazil
by Joanne Blaney

In Brazil, every 15 seconds, a woman suffers violence in the home. Yet, Brazil is the only Latin American country that does not have a specific law regarding domestic violence. The 2003 study by the Perseu Abramo Foundation indicates that 2.1 million Brazilian women suffer from domestic violence (beatings, spankings, physical torture, rape) each year. Seventy percent of the aggressors in these cases are husbands or boyfriends of the victims. A woman is much safer on the street than in her own home. The current Brazilian decree (9.099/95) that deals with domestic violence also covers other civil and criminal acts that are considered of "less gravity". These crimes are handled by special criminal judgeships set up in the country and the focus is on reconciliation of the parties involved. Domestic violence is treated as a "minor potential offense" and the violence is classified as "light" if it results in serious consequences for the victim for up to 20 days (hospitalization, inability to work, etc.). The victim is then pressured by negotiators to reconcile with the aggressor so that the process can be quickly closed. Many women arrive at these hearings without any legal advocate or information. Even if a woman does go forward with the process, very few cases result in a fair judgment. The aggressors who are punished usually pay a small fine or do some community service work. This sense of impunity contributes to the increased growth in domestic violence in the country. One of the few cases that did go to court and was prosecuted still is held up in the court system. It is the case of of Maria da Penha, whose ex-husband tried to kill her after years of battering her and their children. As a result of the homicide attempt, Maria da Penha is today a paraplegic (irreversible) and, because of serious other wounds from the violence, has very poor health. Even though her ex-husband was condemned two times in a jury trial and given a sentence of 10 years and 6 months in prison, the case is paralyzed in the Justice Tribunal in the state of Ceara, awaiting the appeal process. This case resulted in international attention and was brought to the OAS (Organization of American States) in 2001 where Brazil was strongly condemned for negligence and omission in the area of domestic violence. Yet, Maria da Penha´s ex-husband continues to be free. Maria wrote a book, "Survived, I Can Tell", in which she denounces the impunity and the slowness of the justice system, that after 20 years, still has not effectively processed this case. According to Amnesty International, one billion women, or 1/3 of the women in the world, have suffered physical or sexual violence or some other type of abuse. The Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women´s Rights (CLADEM) indicates that for every five days that women are absent from work, one of those days missed is due to the violence in their own homes. A woman abused by domestic violence loses one year of healthy life for every five years of her life. In Latin America, domestic violence lowers the Gross Domestic Product by 14.6%, or US$170 billion.


Proposal for a New Law Related to Domestic Violence:


For years, social movements, human rights organizations, and women´s groups have been calling for a specific law dealing with domestic violence. Groups like the São Paulo Forum Against Violence and others throughout the country have made various proposals and a public audience will be held in São Paulo on April 16, 2005 to discuss the proposed new law PL 4.559/04. This law proposes that domestic violence against women be defined as any action or conduct based in gender relations that causes death, damage, or physical, sexual or psychological suffering. It determines that domestic violence cases will be judged in courts that will be established to deal with Domestic and Family Violence Against Women. The proposed law stipulates that women have the right to services in the health system and that public policies should stipulate integrated actions to prevent and eradicate domestic violence against women. It also determines that women in these situations should have easy and efficient access to the police, professionals trained to deal with domestic violence, and the free services of a public defender. This proposed law is one step to combat the problem of domestic violence; however,the issue of protection for women who denounce domestic violence as well as impunity for the aggressors still remain to be resolved. (Sources: CLADEM - Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women´s Rights, Amnesty International, Perseu Abramo Foundation)


Updates


*Last November, Sejup reported on a massacre that happened in Felisburgo, Minas Gerais. Nearly 200 families had been occupying an area known as Fazenda Nova Alegria. Adriano Chafik Luedy claims that he owns the land; however, the government of Minas Gerais claims that the area belongs to the state. Since the occupation began, Luedy had been attempting to scare the families off the land, threatening them and even kidnaping adolescents. On November 20th, 18 gunmen entered the encampment and began to shoot up a tent where a meeting of the families was in session. By the end of the shooting spree, five men of the occupation were killed and 20 others wounded, including a 12 year-old child. In addition, the band of gunmen set fire to the tents of 100 families. Luedy was arrested and imprisoned, but on April 8, 2005, a superior court released Luedy based on his own recognizance. This past week, another judge, Armando Ghedini Neto, reissued the imprisonment of Luedy due to the fact that those on the occupation site continue to receive death threats from Luedy and his family. At the time of this writing, Luedy still has not turned himself in to officials.


*In a related matter, the Superior Justice Tribunal in the state of Para maintained the prison sentences of Col. Mario Colares Pantoja and Jose Maria Pereira Oliveira, who are being held responsible for the massacre of MST (Movement of Workers without Land) members at Eldorado dos Carajas, Para. This police action in 1996 resulted in the death of 21 rural workers and left 69 wounded. The other police and the then governor, Almir Gabriel, continue in liberty.


*The war against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) continues here in Brazil. Sejup reported that in March, President Lula approved the Law of Biosecurity, which enables the CTNBio (the National Technical Commission on Biosecurity) to allow or not the production of GMO’s in Brazil. (The current commission is made of scientists who are in favor of this technology.) This past week, the Green Party and IDEC (Consumer Defense Institute) have enter a lawsuit in the Supreme Court stating that the law is unconstitutional on two counts. First according to the new law, CNTBio could dispense with any environmental impact studies before approving the use of GMO’s. The Constitution clearly states that such studies must be done before approval of any product or activity which potentially could have effects on the environment. Secondly, the new law usurps power from the government organs which are equipped to make evaluations and decisions in this area, namely, the ministries of health and environment. The suit falls on the heels of the release of a secret study that Monsanto conducted in Germany. In this study, rats fed with Monsanto’s transgenic corn 863 developed abnormalities in their internal organs and alterations in their blood


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