IACHR
Press Release
IACHR condemns violent police actions in Brazil and urges it to adopt measures to combat social and racial discrimination
2 de agosto, 2020
Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) expresses deep concern about the historic numbers of violent
police actions recorded during the first half of the year in Brazil
and their link to racial discrimination, aggravated in the context
of Covid-19. Thus, the IACHR calls on the State to adopt a security
policy with a citizen focus, as well as to combat and eradicate the
historical structural discrimination that results in
disproportionate patterns of institutional violence against people
of African descent and those exposed to poverty and extreme poverty.
According to data from the Brazilian Public Security Forum, from January
to April 2020, there was a 31% increase in police lethality in the state of
São Paulo compared to the same period in 2019, with 381 deaths reported at
the hands of security agents in that period in 2020. In the state of Rio de
Janeiro alone, according to data from the Public Safety Institute (ISP), the
period from January to April 2020 saw an increase of approximately 9% in the
police fatality rate, with 612 events. In addition, in both states, a
critical increase was observed during the month of April, when the strictest
confinement measures were implemented. While in the state of São Paulo,
police fatalities increased 53% compared to April of the previous year, in
Rio de Janeiro, there was an increase of approximately 43% in deaths caused
by the police in the same period in 2019. The seriousness of the increase in
violent police actions in Rio de Janeiro's favelas, territories with a
social predominance of people of African descent and living in poverty, led
the Supreme Court to issue a preliminary decision prohibiting police
operations in these communities while the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The
IACHR also points out that the Rio de Janeiro Institute of Public Security
noted that, in the last month of June, when the decision came into effect,
the so-called "deaths due to the intervention by state agents" have fallen
by 78%, as well as a drop in the general register of violent crimes and
robberies in the state.
Data from the Brazilian Public Security Forum shows that nearly in eight
out of every 10 Brazilian police fatalities victims are Afro-descendant.
Although the Afro-descendant population represents 55% of the Brazilian
population, blacks account for 75.4% of those killed by the police. In this
context, so far this year, the Commission has had information on various
acts of violence committed by the State police forces in the context of the
implementation of the security policy. As an example of this, it highlights
the case of a 51-year-old woman of African descent, who was seriously
assaulted on July 12, 2020 by a police officer, an act recorded in a video
that shows the police officer stepping on her neck with the intention of
immobilizing her and then dragging her along the ground in the Parelheiros
neighborhood in the city of São Paulo. The same practice was noted in a new
video recorded July 14, which shows four police officers violently boarding
and choking Jefferson André da Silva, a 23-year-old African-American
motorcycle rider, as part of a protest for better working conditions by
delivery drivers in the western part of the city.
In Rio de Janeiro, on May 18, the actions of the Federal Police in conjunction with the Coordination of Special Resources of the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police (CORE) are said to have resulted in the death of João Pedro Mattos Pinto, a 14-year-old African-American boy, who was shot inside his home in the region of Salgueiro, Rio de Janeiro. The information indicates that, after his death, the alleged perpetrators of the shooting allegedly took the boy's body away in a helicopter, having been missing for about 24 hours when he was identified at the Instituto Médico Legal (IML). In the same vein, the IACHR was informed that at least 13 people were killed on May 15, in the favelas compound known as Complexo do Alemão, in Rio de Janeiro, following joint action by the state's civil and military police. According to public information, during the operation, a military policeman was wounded by shrapnel, but not seriously.
The IACHR has repeatedly expressed its concern about the
excessive use of police force, particularly with regard to the high levels
of police lethality and its disproportionate impact on persons of African
descent. Likewise, during its November 2018 on-site visit to the
country, the Commission identified that, in a context of structural
discrimination, the police forces also carry out operations focused on poor
communities with a high concentration of people of African descent, without
observing international and inter-American human rights standards and
without the issuance of judicial orders.
The American Convention on Human Rights establishes obligations regarding
the right to life, to the integrity of all persons, as well as its duty to
promote equality and non-discrimination in all spheres of action. Thus, it
urges the State to adopt effective protection measures against interventions
by State agents, and to adopt measures aimed at combating the use of racial
profiling against persons of African descent and other explicit or implicit
discriminatory practices on the basis of ethno-racial origin or
socio-economic status, which results directly or indirectly in threats to
the right to life.
With regard to the profile of the victims, the Inter-American Commission
reaffirms that these are not isolated acts of violence but are part of a
historical and structural process of discrimination based on ethno-racial
and social origin, which manifests itself systematically. The Commission
notes that these serious crimes are inserted into a context of historical
impunity and insufficient accountability by the criminal justice system and
police institutions, respectively.
The Commission notes that police racism is part of a context of
historical impunity and insufficient accountability for abusive practices by
the police, and also part of the criminal justice system as well as by the
police institutions themselves. The Commission considers it necessary to
strengthen the State's capacities in the criminal justice system and among
law enforcement officials with respect to the prohibition of the use of
racial profiling and the excessive use of force, in accordance with the
principles of equality and non-discrimination.
The IACHR also emphasizes the importance for the country of strengthening the independence and autonomy of justice system actors and control bodies involved in the investigation of civil and military police’s actions. Finally, the IACHR strongly calls on Brazil to ratify the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Intolerance.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 187/20