by Arnold Winkleried
Amnesty International
Amnesty International was founded in 1961 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for its efforts to promote global observance of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a worldwide movement of people acting on the conviction that governments must not deny individuals their basic Human Rights.
Its mandate
Amnesty International works to promote awareness of, and adherence to, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights accords. It also pressures governments and non-governmental organizations to
Human Rights violations in Brazil
Federative Republic of Brazil Head of state and government: Fernando Henrique
Cardoso
Capital: Brasília
Population: 159.8 million (1997)
Size: 8,511,965 sq km
Official language: Portuguese
Human Rights Issues in Brazil
Conditions of detention for common prisoners, including juvenile offenders, constituted cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Torture and ill-treatment were reported to be common in many police stations, juvenile detention centers and prisons. Deaths in custody in these institutions were generally not documented or investigated. Police and "death squads" linked to the security forces continued to kill civilians, including children, in circumstances suggesting extrajudicial executions. Human rights defenders were threatened and attacked. Most of those responsible for human rights violations continued to benefit from impunity. Land reform activists in a number of states were harassed, assaulted and murdered by gunmen hired by local landowners, with the apparent acquiescence of the police and authorities.
Recent examples of Human Rights violations in Brazil
Torture in prison
In September 1999, public prosecutors, who are responsible for monitoring the police, paid a surprise visit to the Theft and Robbery police station, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state. In a small bathroom they discovered instruments used for torture, including bare electrical wires for applying electric shocks and a metal bar from which victims were suspended upside-down by their ankles and wrists, on the so-called "parrots perch." As the prosecutors were interviewing prisoners who had allegedly just been tortured, police forced them to leave, subjected them to abuse, and vandalized their car. The police chief and nine police officers were subsequently suspended from duty.
In January 1999, Jessé Correia de Oliveira Filho was allegedly tortured in the Cordeiro Police Station in Recife, Pernambuco state, because he refused to confess to involvement in a homicide. He was left stripped naked for several hours. His hands were tied behind his back and four police officers repeatedly placed a plastic bag over his head and stood on him. Eventually he agreed to confess. He subsequently lodged an official complaint and was shot dead in the street near his home the evening before he was due to attend an identification parade to identify his torturers.
Children in detention
After a riot in August 1999, 69 boys were injured, allegedly by the military police riot squad. In September hooded warders were captured on film beating boys who had surrendered; riot police fired rubber bullets at relatives waiting outside.
Killings of children
In February 1999, 14-year-old Anderson Pereira dos Santos, 17-year-old Thiago Passos Ferreira, and 21-year-old Paulo Roberto da Silva were leaving a carnival party in São Vicente, São Paulo state, when they were stopped by members of the Military Police Mounted Regiment. Eyewitnesses saw them being beaten and driven off in a police car. Their bodies were found one week later dumped in an area of wasteland. They had been shot in the head at point-blank range with a high-caliber pistol similar to those used by the military police.
'Death squads'
In September 1999, the Brazilian Federal Congress removed from office a federal deputy for the western Amazonian state of Acre accused of international drug and arms trafficking and of running a "death squad" responsible for the deaths of at least 30 people whose bodies were often mutilated. Twenty-one civil and military police officers were also arrested in connection with these activities.
Police
In August the trial began of the 153 Pará state military police officers indicted on a charge of aggravated homicide for the killing of 19 landless peasants in Eldorado de Carajás in April 1996. The three commanding officers, the first to be tried, were acquitted amid allegations of bias among the jurors and misconduct of the trial. The trial of the remaining accused was suspended pending a number of appeals in the state High Court. The governor of the state, the Secretary of Public Security and the Commander-in-Chief of the military police at the time of the massacre continued to enjoy immunity from investigation and prosecution, in contravention of the principle of chain-of-command responsibility in relation to extrajudicial executions.
Human rights defenders and witness protection
In Rio Grande do Norte state, Antônio Lopes, a transvestite also known as "Carla," was shot dead outside his house in March. His death appeared to be linked to that of Francisco Gilson Nogueira, a lawyer at the Centre for Human Rights and Collective Memory, who was killed in 1996 while investigating a "death squad." Antônio Lopes uncovered and handed to the public prosecutor evidence which brought about the reopening in October 1998 of the police investigation into Francisco Gilson Nogueira's death.
Land-related violence
In March, Eduardo Anghinoni was shot dead by a gunman in Querência do Norte. He was visiting his brother, Celso Anghinoni, a well-known local leader of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST). One week later, Seno Staats, an MST regional coordinator, was abducted and tortured for five hours by armed men who told him that he and 10 other MST members, including Celso Anghinoni, were on a death list. While interrogating him about MST activities, they punched and kicked him, burned him with cigarettes, put a rope around his neck, placed a plastic bag over his head, and threatened to kill him, his family and other MST leaders. Some of those threatened were later arrested and placed under preventive detention on account of their MST activities.
Individual Case
Amnesty International asks you to write a letter for Elizabeth Cristina de Oliveira Maia.
Elizabeth Cristina de Oliveira Maia was a survivor of a 1993 massacre outside the Candalária church, in which military police killed eight street children. She was due to give testimony about the massacre at a hearing when she was shot in the head repeatedly by a hooded gunman outside her home in Rio de Janeiro on September 26, 2000. Of the 72 children who were present when the massacre took place, 44 have since died violent deaths. The killing of Ms. de Oliveira Maia graphically demonstrates how vulnerable witnesses to such crimes are. Amnesty International is calling for an investigation into her killing and for greater protection for other witnesses.
You can either write your own letter to the following address:
Ministro da Justiça do Brasil
Dr. José Gregori
Ministério da Justiça
Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco 23
70064-900 - Brasília - DF
BRAZIL
and send a copy to
Ambassador Rubens Barbosa
Brazilian Embassy
3006 Massachusetts Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008 20008, USA
Or you can print and send out the letter below. (copy and paste it to your word processing program)
If you choose to write your own letter, please read the guidelines here. The first and most important rule is "Always be polite".
Please DO NOT WRITE after 22 December 2000. If you receive an answer to your letter, please e-mail the author of this article.
Sample letter
Ministro da Justiça do Brasil Dr. José Gregori
Ministério da Justiça
Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco 23
70064-900 - Brasília - DF
BRAZIL
Your Excellency:
I am moved by sadness and indignation to write to you regarding the recent murder of Elizabeth Cristina de Oliveira Maia. This brave young woman, who survived a massacre of street children by military police in 1993, had defied threats to testify against those who carried out the massacre. She was due to give evidence at a hearing in October 2000 when she was shot in the head repeatedly by a hooded gunman outside her home in the Botafogo neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro on September 26. She leaves three young children.
Elizabeth Cristina de Oliveira Maia had survived the 1993 massacre outside the Candalária church, in which military police killed eight children. Of the 72 children who were present when the massacre took place, 44 have since died violent deaths. The survivors have never been given adequate protection, and at least one witness had to leave the country for his own safety. The killing of Ms. de Oliveira Maia graphically demonstrates how vulnerable witnesses to such crimes are, and her murder may undermine the confidence of others who might come forward to give evidence against police.
I urge you to ensure that there is a swift, impartial and effective investigation into the killing of Elizabeth Cristina de Oliveira Maia, an investigation that will examine the possible involvement of police officers in the crime. I ask that the findings of this investigation be made public and that those found to be responsible for the killing be brought to justice. I urge you to take immediate steps to properly fund and support a witness protection program that is capable of adequately protecting those at risk. Finally, I call upon your office to take immediate steps to combat the continuing activities of police death squads in Rio de Janeiro.
I thank you for your assistance with this very serious matter, and I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
copy to:
Ambassador Rubens Barbosa
Brazilian Embassy
3006 Massachusetts Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008 USA