Number 58, December 17, 1992

HUMAN RIGHTS

- Bar Association (OAB) confers human rights prizes in Sao Paulo.

"My biggest dream was to write a different book, not about the police who assassinate but about a country which insists on the most elementary right of citizenship which is the right to life". With these words journalist Caco Barcellos thanked the Sao Paulo section of the OAB for conferring on him the Franz de Castro Holzwarth Prize for his contribution to human rights. The ceremony took place in the headquarters of the OAB on Monday last, December 14. A further three people received meritorious mention in the ceremony for their word in the same area - Father Francisco Reardon for his work in the Prison Pastoral, Margarida Genevois who is president of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Sao Paulo, and Eriberto Franca who denounced the PC Farias scheme of corruption which involved President Fernando Collor.

Caco Barcello is a well known reporter with TV Globo. In September last he published a book entitled "Rota 66 - the Story of the Police who Assassinate". In all the book involved 5 years of research and shows that of the 4178 persons killed by the military police of the city of Sao Paulo during the last 22 years, 68% were innocent. Of this total, 680 were minors.

After the publication of the book, Caco Barcellos received several death threats. "This is not only a book but a life option in the defense of human rights" commented Ricardo Carrara Neto vice president of the OAB at the ceremony.

Father Francisco Reardon in his address of thanks to the numerous representative of human rights entities present at the ceremony commented that "the greatest violence takes place on the part of those who can solve so many social problems and do nothing to do so. He remembered that a mere 8% of the Brazilian population has access to the justice system. Eriberto Franca in his speech of acceptance of the prize commented "It is my hope that each and every person struggle for one objective only: for the victory of justice and in favor of our country". Margarida Genovois in her acceptance speech remembered the 20 years' history of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Sao Paulo. She emphasised the importance of the present investment of the Commission in the area of education for human rights and remembered that "ethical principles are necessary so that the truth always becomes public".

- Commission confirms that massacre occurred at House of Detention.

The report of a special commission of the Federal Council for the Defense of the Rights of the Human Person (CDDPH) confirmed that a "real massacre, without precedent in the history of penitentiary systems in the world", occurred on October 2 at the Carandiru House of Detention in Sao Paulo.

The report, which was sent to federal Justice Minister Mauricio Correa and later received an unanimous vote of approval in the Commission, emphasized the fact that the Military Police killed, without justification, 111 prisoners under the custody of the state. An additional 110 persons were wounded during the police action.

The commission, whose members include Marcelo Lavenere Machado president of the Brazilian Bar Association, and federal Attorney General Aristides Junqueira, recommended the expulsion of those responsible for the massacre from the Military Police, and demanded their trial by a civil, and not a military court. According to Lavenere, a court run by military officers will not condemn those responsible. He believes that officers who took part in the prison invasion may even be promoted by their superiors. For this recommendation to take effect, Congress would need to approve a law modifying the Military Penal Code, which states that military police be tried before military tribunals.

Lavenere also called for state penitentiary systems to be taken from the jurisdiction of the state secretaries for public security and be coordinated instead by secretaries of justice or an organ created specifically for penitentiary supervision.

The commission also called for the indemnification of the families of the prisoners. According to the report, this is necessary because those killed were found in the confines of a State establishment. This recommendation has the support of Justice Minister Correa. However, he delayed judgment on the entire report, and called for a discussion of the report by the whole Council beginning December 14, before voting on the report and its recommendations.

According to the commission, all 350 police officers who invaded the prison, and those who commanded the operation should be punished. This stance is in contrast to the one taken by the investigating commission of the Sao Paulo State Legislature, which stated that there was no massacre, but only "an excessive use of force" on the part of the police.

NATIONAL POLITICS

- Workers' Party announces alternative program of government.

The Workers' Party (PT) issued its political program for 1994, for study among its affiliates. One of the main points of the program is a national project for development "capable of removing the country from a situation of collapse and creating conditions for economic growth and an ample distribution of income to assure the elimination of poverty."

The PT opposes the neo-liberal economic policies applied in other Latin American countries and in Brazil, the "scrap-heaping of our industries, a privatization program which shelters corruption, the indiscriminate opening of the economy, and the current negotiations on the external debt."

The program calls for more congressional investigations of corruption in government, and a reform of the penal code to speed and toughen up the legal process against those charged with corruption, tax evasion, and other white-collar crimes.

Electoral reforms are also urged, including a fairer representation in Congress of the heavily populated southeastern states, a law to regulate campaign financing, and a "democratizing of the means of communication", granting airwave access to universities, unions, and social organizations.

In the economic sphere, the program's main points are: an anti-inflationary policy through the social control of inflation; protectionist measures to stimulate employment and lower prices; fiscal reform "in the perspective of initiating an immediate plan to combat misery"; revision of the agreement on the foreign debt; and public investments to create jobs.

On December 11, PT President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva announced that the party will begin a national campaign next month against hunger. The objective of the campaign is to seek support from international organizations, such as the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and UNICEF, to aid in the fight against hunger in Brazil. The campaign will also encourage businesses to offer employment to poor youths.

- Franco to withdraw proposed patent legislation.

The "Folha de Sao Paulo" reported on December 13 that acting President Itamar Franco plans to withdraw from Congress proposed legislation which would regulate the rights and obligations of industrial property, also known as the patent bill.

The bill, introduced by the Collor government in April, 1991, calls for the immediate legal enforcement of industrial patents, including pharmaceutical products, as soon as the patents have been approved.

Lobbying against this measure have been national pharmaceutical companies, who said that the bill would lead to greater control of the drug market by multinational companies. Currently, multinationals control 80% of the pharmaceutical market in Brazil, and 70% of the raw materials of the pharmaceutical sector are imported. The United States Embassy and Interfarma, an organization of multinational drug firms, mounted one of the biggest lobbying campaigns in the National Congress in favor of the patent bill.

Other opponents of the measure are NGOs, the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of Brazil (CNBB). The CNBB had sent a letter to Federal Deputy Ney Lopes, sponsor of a substitute patent bill, saying that the legislation would "patent life" by proposing the registration of microorganisms produced in laboratories.

The question of patents for living organisms was a controversial topic during the UN Conference on the Environment and Development, particularly in the Biodiversity Treaty. The patent bill would go against this treaty, as it would allow multinational firms who do biotechnological research to patent their findings, without any benefits for Brazil, whose Amazon region is the most biologically diverse in the world.

Currently, Brazil does not recognize pharmaceutical patents, not even for products produced in the country. US President George Bush has threatened to retaliate if Brazil continues "pirating" in the pharmaceutical area. The CNBB, OAB, and the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science have called for a period of 10 years for national industries to make the transition

to recognizing pharmaceutical patents.

WOMEN

- Indiscriminate sterilization of women denouced by UN.

The Population Fund of the UN denounced the indiscriminate sterilization of women in Brazil as a crime against women. Although prohibited by law, sterilization is the contraceptive method of 45% of all Brazilian women between the ages of 15 and 30 (7.5 million women). In comparison, the sterilization rate in Great Britain is 8%, in Japan 2%, and in Italy, 1%.

Sterilization as a method of birth control has increased dramatically in the last 20 years. From 1970 to 1974, the rate was 9.5%. Northeastern states, led by Maranhao with 79.8%, have the highest percentages of sterilized women in the country.

These statistics help to explain the sharp decrease in Brazil's population growth. The 1991 national census found 10 million Brazilians less than had been anticipated. "There is a culture of sterilization", said researcher Elza Berquo, of the University of Campinas in the State of Sao Paulo.

Sterilization is also the most harmful contraceptive method, said obstetrician and University of Campinas professor Claudio Basbaum. "At least 80% of the women who have tubal ligations will experience changes in the functioning of their ovaries", Basbaum told the "Folha de Sao Paulo". "A large number of these women will need hysterectomies." According to Basbaum, 50% of all hysterectomies are caused by functional disturbances, such as hemorrhaging. One of the causes of these disturbances is tubal ligation. The vast majority of tubal ligations occur following caesarean births, which, said Basbaum, is the moment least indicated for the operation. Brazil, according to the World Bank, is a world leader in caesarean births.

The recently concluded report of a congressional commission on sterilization denounced the pressure businesses put on their women workers, at times even demanding a document saying they have been sterilized. Political candidates, said the commission, "frequently" exchange tubal ligations for votes.

According to the Population Fund's Brazil representative, Pedro Vilanueva, many women later regret having been sterilized. "Many adolescents are victims, and afterwards regret being sterilized for the rest of their lives." In northern and midwest Brazil, 24% of women are sterilized before age 24.

The Population Fund believes that the lack of sex education has damaged women's health, particularly in regards to the high level of teen-age pregnancy. At least 2 million Brazilian adolescents have already experienced pregnancy.

The congressional commission concluded in its report that "women do not have information about their bodies and reproductive systems, they do not have contraceptive methods at their disposal, and they cannot resort to abortions in acceptable conditions, since clandestine abortions are very dangerous. There is no alternative other than surgical sterilization, which is a dramatic and definitive option."

CHURCHES

- Churches criticize Mercosul accord.

Leaders of Christian churches in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay, in a meeting sponsored by the Latin America Council of Churches (CLAI), stated that Mercosul is not the appropriate instrument for reaching the integration which the people of the Southern Cone desire.

In a Church Consultation entitled "Mercosul in debate: perspectives and consequences for pastoral action", the church leaders called for an integration based on development programs which benefit all the countries involved in Mercosul, and which incorporates the human dimension, such as education, culture, health, labor, and environment.

Integration based on neo-liberal economic policies, said the Consultation document, tends to sanctify the market and profit as the supreme value and does not consider the dramatic consequences of this economic system suffered by the poor and excluded. The church leaders appealed to their churches that their prophetic voices be heard, and that they accompany in solidarity those affected by the policies of the current economic system.

URBAN WORKERS

- CUT negotiates with President Itamar Franco.

The Sole Workers Congress of Trade Union (CUT) is negotiating a nine-point program with the economic team of President Franco's government in an effort to diminish the crisis which afflicts the majority of Brazilian workers. Included in the discussions are the following points;

1. A monthly re-adjustment in wages according to the inflation and real losses in relation to the buying power of the salaries.

2. Monthly re-adjustments plus a further 5% for those who receive the minimum wage.

3. Job security and unemployment benefits to offset the social cost of the recession.

4. Suspension of the privitization program and an investigation of the auctions which have already taken place because the payments made are financially and ethically questionable.

5. The granting of land for the landless who at present occupy settlements and camps on the road-side and immediate presidential sanction of the disappropriation processes already concluded.

6. An end to the recession and an impulse to be given to economic growth with priority given for the creation of jobs.

7. Investigation of and punishment for those involved in scandals of corruption.

8. Democracy and transparency in this present government.

9. Democratization of the means of communication and a change in the system of the distribution of licenses for radio and television stations.

RURAL QUESTIONS

- 8 people, including a man of 80 years imprisoned in land struggle.

The Movement of Landless Rural Workers (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - MST) of the State of Sao Paulo has initiated a campaign to free eight of its members from prison. The group was imprisoned on November 21 in the municipality of Mirante de Paranapanema, State of Sao Paulo. The group imprisoned includes a woman and two senior citizens Euclides Torato (74 years) and Tessiodonio Costa (80 years).

The reason given by the local judge, Fredi Lourenco Ruyz Costa, for the imprisonment of the group is that they represented a danger to society. The MST on the other hand, in a document released on December 14 outlines the background to the decision of the judge. The municipality of Mirante de Paranapanema according to the MST, is a region of many land conflicts. According to law much of this region is what is known in Brazilian jurisprudence as "terra devoluta" or public land belonging to the government and as such should be used for the purpose of agrarian reform. Over the years much of this area has been occupied by large ranchers.

With the high rate of unemployment and economic problems caused by the present recession, a number of landless families occupied this area. These families have been subjected to threats and violence from the hired gun-men of the large ranchers. In recent months, apparently attending requests from the ranchers, judge Costa has issued prison decrees against various members of the landless families who are struggling for an agrarian reform.

The MST in its recent document comments "We ask what threat to society do such people (landless) cause? ... If the answer be the struggle for land, then they will have to imprison all the landless rural workers of Brazil because sooner or later all will come to understand that the only way to achieve an agrarian reform is by struggling and then thousands, millions of the landless will find themselves seated on the cold and humid seat of a cell".

The MST of the State of Sao Paulo can be contacted at the following address:

Rua Tamandare 667 Fundos, 01525 Sao Paulo, S.P. Brazil. Phone (011)278-5620.

- Historic rural community organizes itself against violence.

Trade unions, political parties, Churches and grass-roots movements from the State of Bahia are putting pressure on the National Congress to regulate an article of the 1988 Constitution which guarantees that the descendants of "Quilombos"- communities that were formed by ex-slaves to protect their freedom and to give refuge to run-away slaves during colonial times, be given total rights over the land on which they live and are demanding that the State issue the land deeds.

One of the communities which would benefit immediately is that of Rio das Ras, situated near the city of Bom Jesus da Lapa in the State of Bahia. The residents of this community have already been recognized by the government as being legitimately descended from ex-slaves. Unfortunately, a local land owner, Carlos Newton de Vasconcelos Bonfim has been trying for the last ten years to remove the families who live in the Quilombo. He has used all kinds of violence: the erection of barbed wire, chains and locks, destruction of houses and crops, poisoning of the water supply and even making death threats. The judge of Bom Jesus da Lapa, Antonio Laranjeira, has already approved a preliminary petition giving the families of Rio das Ras the right to remain on their land.

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