February 9, 1995
Dear NGO Representative,
On behalf of the International Child resource Institute (ICRI)
Brazil Project, I would like to request your assistance in a
worldwide effort to stop the killings of street children in
Brazil. The lack of political will to effectively tackle the
violence against the children of the poor in Brazil and to
prosecute their assailants in one of the key reasons for the four
daily murders of children and adolescents in that country. We
urge you to voice your concern in this orchestrated effort of the
international community, by endorsing a petition addressed to
Brazil's newly elected President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
The ICRI Brazil Project has prepared the enclosed petition in
collaboration with the Brazilian National Movement of Street
Children (MNMMR). At present, hundreds of human and children's
rights groups around the world are being contacted by the Brazil
Project to form a strong network against the impunity of death
squad members in Brazil. To participate, contact our office
either by letter, phone, fax, or Email to let us know that your
organization agrees to endorse the document. We will need
complete contact information (name of organization, contact name,
address, phone and fax numbers). In the end of March, the MNMMR
will deliver the document with the list of endorsing organizations
into the hands of Brazil's President, Mr. Cardoso. Your
participation is crucial!
The Brazil Project is a program of the International Child
Resource Institute, a 14 year-old non- governmental organization
with field representatives in 52 countries, dedicated to the
survival and success of children and their families around the
world.
The Brazil Project Program and Awareness Campaign seeks to
inspire, organize, and direct international support to Brazilian
efforts to provide street children with protection, care, and
opportunities.
For further information, please do not hesitate to contact our
office by phone (510) 644-1000, fax (510) 525-4106, or Email
icri@igc.apc.org
Sincerely yours,
Caius Brandao Laura Yang Project
Coordinator Campaign Coordinator
ICRI
Brazil Project 1810 Hopkins Street Berkeley, California 94707
USA
Phone: (510) 644-1000 Fax: (510) 525-4106 Email: icri@igc.org
March ..., 1995
Federative Republic of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso President
of Brazil Praca dos Tres Poderes Palacio do Planalto, Third Floor
70160-900 Brasilia-DF Brazil
Dear President Cardoso,
We write to you today both to congratulate you as you initiate
your presidency, and to wish you success in your efforts to lead
Brazil to a better future for all its citizens. But what bring
us together in addressing you is our deep concern for those
citizens of Brazil that comprise its future generations: its
children and adolescents.
Over the last decade a serious movement on behalf of the rights of
children has grown in Brazil, and its achievements have been
impressive. Yet, in spite of these gains, destitute children and
adolescents continue to be murdered with impunity. We urge you
to use full power of your office to end the extra-judicial
killings of children and adolescents in Brazil and to bring to
justice members of death squads and others responsible for these
crimes.
We share the indignation felt by many Brazilians over the impunity
enjoyed by murderers of poor adolescents and children.
Professional killers continue to profit from these crimes and, if
anything, killings of children and adolescents have escalated.
We cite the following statistics:
- According to the National Movement of Street Children
(MNMMR) and the Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic
Analyses (IBASE), 1,937 children and adolescents were
killed during the period of 1984 to 1989.
- According to the Attorney General (Procurador Geral da
Republica), 5,644 children between the ages of five and seventeen
were victims of violent deaths in the period between 1988
and 1991.
- According to Rio de Janeiro state governmentUs own
statistics, in 1992, 424 children under the age of eighteen were
victims of homicide in Rio de Janeiro. In the first six
months of 1993, 298 children were killed in that state.
The Center for the Mobilization of Marginalized Populations (CEAP)
states that the majority of the victims are impoverished male
adolescents of African descent. In addition to being at risk of
homicides, these young Brazilian are frequently humiliated,
tortured, and mutilated at the hands of their assailants.
The wide-spread ideological argument that every poor child is a
'potential criminal' is not only groundless, but also cruel and
deeply prejudicial. A report released by the Rio de Janeiro's
State Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry revealed that 90% of the
adolescents killed in the State had no previous police record.
Nevertheless, death squads operate in many Brazilian states.
Police officers are frequently accused of murdering destitute
minors, and businessmen are alleged to contract professional
killers to 'clean the streets'. According to the MNMMR, Marco de
Lima, a city official in Novo Hamburgo from the Party of the
Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) went so far as to declare
that "We have to kill when they are still young, so they do not
bother us after they grow up".
The MNMMR and Amnesty International estimate that over 90% of the
crimes committed against Brazilian Children and Adolescents go
unpunished. The resulting climate of impunity subverts the Law
and undermines the State's responsibility to meet out justice. In
effect, to ignore these killings is to condone an unofficial
'death penalty" that victimizes society's most disadvantaged and
vulnerable members: its children and adolescents.
Sadly, the world at large is witness to the failure of the
Brazilian judicial system and law-enforcement agencies to uphold
national laws designed to protect the human rights of children and
adolescents. We are also aware that the foundation for change is
being prepared by Brazilian society. In the past ten years civil
society has taken many positive steps to curb violence against the
children of the poor.
Eager to consolidate the process of democratization and to avoid social
chaos, community agents, neighborhood associations, the church, minority
groups, unions, and non-governmental organizations have raised children's
issues as national priorities in the political agenda. The plight of
Brazilian street children led to the passage of the landmark Child
and Adolescent Statute, which stands among the world's most
advanced legislation on children's rights. The Statutes aims not
only to guarantee fundamental rights to all Brazilian youth, but
also to promote a new concept of childhood which could become a
model to other nations. This legislation provides excellent tools
which now need to be enacted in practice. We hope your
administration will commit to fully implement the Child And
Adolescent Statute. This bold initiative merits cooperation and
support from the international community.
We urge you to use the full power of your office to guarantee that the
Child and Adolescent Statute, a remarkable document, does not become a
dead letter. With regard to impunity, the Child and Adolescent Statute
states that:
No child or adolescent will be subject to any form of
negligence, discrimination, exploitation, violence,
cruelty, or oppression, and any violation of their
fundamental rights, either by act or omission, will be
punished according to the terms of the law. [Article 5]
While a few of the most egregious massacres of children in Brazil
have generated commendable responses from federal and state
governments, these measures have rarely led to full investigations
or prosecutions, nor have they succeeded in altering the general
fact of impunity that makes such massacres possible. We call on
you to use your authority as President to reinvigorate efforts to
guarantee rights for children. We believe that leadership at the
highest levels of government is necessary if lasting change is to
occur, and the gratuitous murder of children and adolescents is
truly to end.
The following cases represent just a few of the many unresolved
incidents involving the murder of children and adolescents. Their
resolution, however, would represent an important step toward
ending impunity:
Sao Paulo - 06/12/94, in Taboao da Serra, where three adolescents
were executed (Alexandre Lima, 17; Andre Cerqueira, 14; and
Adriano Cerqueira, 12).
Amazonas - 06/24/94, in Manaus, where five adolescents were
massacred (Joel Santos Xavier, 18; Jander da Silva, 15; Antonio
Cleuter Articlinio, 14; and Moises Pereira da Silva, 16). The
governor of Amazonia State, Mr. Gilberto Mestrinho, prohibited the
reporting of this case in the media, which shows the lack of
political will to hold the perpetrators responsible for this
crime.
Roraima - 08/19/93, in Haximu, where three teenage girls and six
children from the Brazilian Yanomami Indian tribe were massacred by
gold-miners. Their bodies were cut with machetes, and the children
were decapitated.
Alagoas - 01/20/94 to 02/03/94, where seven boys were assassinated.
The State Government insists that their death were the result of a
gang war, but the prosecutor in charge publicly declared that they
were victims of a death squad.
Espirito Santo - where investigations on death-squad activities
have forced the District Attorney assigned to the case to seek
help of the Federal Police. The group allegedly involved in
organizing death squads is the so called TScuderie Le CocqU, which
is comprised of over 800 members in the state of Espirito Santo
alone.
Rio de Janeiro - 07/26/90, in Acari, where 10 teenagers were
abducted and disappeared (Rozane de Souza Santos; Edson de Souza
Costa; Mallace de Souza Nascimento; Luis Henrique da S. Eusebio;
Antonio Carlos da Silva; Moises dos Santos Cruz; Luis Carlos V. de
Deus; Edmo do Nascimento; Udson de Oliveira; and Cristiane Souza
Costa). The key witness, Edmeia Euzebio, who accused police
officers of being involved in the crime, was subsequently
murdered.
Rio de Janeiro - 07/23/94 when seven sleeping street-children were
massacred in front of the Candelaria church by a death squad
allegedly made up of police officers.
Brasilia-DF - 02/02/93 when the teenager Laercio Xavier was
allegedly assassinated by Sebastiao Curio de Moura, a Reserve
Colonel.
President Cardoso, we wish you great success in your endeavors for
Brazil and for all Brazilians. Yours is a special opportunity; we
sincerely hope that today's children, and their children, come to
recognize and remember your administration as the one that truly
recognized the value of every child, defending the right of every
child and adolescent to citizenship, and to life. We are
confident that with your leadership such a transformation can
occur. Brazil is at a critical juncture; the challenges are
enormous, yet the need for change has never been greater. We
stand in solidarity with each and every necessary effort toward
that end.
Sincerely yours,
* END OF MESSAGE *