Structural racism and police violence do not allow black people in Brazil to safely comply with lockdown measures

Structural racism and police violence do not allow black people in Brazil to safely comply with lockdown measures

João Pedro Mattos was fourteen years old when he was shot with a rifle during a police operation while the victim was playing with some friends. Two cousins, Emily, four years old, and Rebeca, seven years old, were murdered while playing in front of their houses by police officers in Duque de Caxias's community. Marcelo Guimarães was thirty-eight years old when the police shot him after he dropped off his son for the first day at school in Cidade de Deus favela These cases portray a common reality: black people who were living      in favelas, and were murdered by police officers during the COVID-19 pandemic. While people worldwide have received guidance on staying at home and limiting their commuting due to the risk of spreading the coronavirus, black people in Brazil are not safe in their own homes and      neighbourhoods because of police violence.

 

History of police violence in Brazil

For more than three hundred years, Colonial Brazil was the largest importer of African slaves. European colonial powers kidnap African people and use them as a slave work-force in gold and diamond mines, coffee and sugar cane farms, and domestic work. The slave      trade of African men and women has resulted in millions of people dying and suffering for many generations.[4] Finally, Brazil was the last western country to abolish slavery in 1888. Brazil's Portuguese settlers were primarily male, and they often went for indigenous and African female mates, either for a consensual partnership and/or to perpetuate rape. Therefore, the miscegenation of races became a reality during the post-colonial period in Brazil. In contrast to other countries, such as the United States of America and South Africa, there were no specific rules in Brazil about segregation or apartheid, which made Brazilians believe for a long time in the myth of Brazil being a 'racial democracy.'[5]

After the end of the slavery period in Brazil, black people were not integrated into society and received no reparations for the harm they have suffered. The denial of black people's cultural practices, including those related to religion, made post-colonial elites and white people build a society based on structural racism.[6] Therefore, black people's exclusion from political institutions and denial of entry to all kinds of social elites takes place still today. 

 

Picture 1People walking at Maré’s Favela. Photo: Tomaz Silva, Agência Brasil

According to the 2019 Brazilian Public Security (Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública) police were responsible for 11 out of every 100 intentional violent deaths in Brazil in 2018. Furthermore, 75.4% of those victims were black.[7]

           The most killing police State in Brazil is Rio de Janeiro, and it has remained in this position during the pandemic. The Police of Rio de Janeiro were responsible for 25% of the killing in the State, which resulted in the number of 1239 homicides from police intervention.

If Rio de Janeiro were a country, the number of police killings on duty would be greater than the number of police homicides in the entire United States in 2020.[8]

Judicial developments about police violence during the pandemic

During the first months of the pandemic, police violence increased dramatically in Rio de Janeiro. According to the Institute of Public Security, the police lethality increased by 28,35?tween March to May of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.[9]

Due to this increased violence the Judge of the Brazilian Supreme Court Edson Fachin, made a historic decision in June, 2020; that later was confirmed by other judges in the Court.

The ADPF 635[10] (Claim of non-compliance with a fundamental precept), the Supreme Court decided to banished police operations in favelas in Rio de Janeiro during the COVID-19 pandemic, except in absolutely exceptional cases.

The Court mentioned the State's obligation to comply with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights decision in the Case of Favela Nova Brasília in 2017[11] , which recognized a relevant omission by the State to develop a plan to reduce lethality committed by security agents.[12] Therefore, the Court decided that the competent authority must adequately justify the extraordinary circumstance for a police operation and communicate immediately to Rio de Janeiro's Prosecutor Office. Moreover, these police operations should be carried      out during the pandemic with outstanding care provided humanitarian aid and public health services. The decision also prohibited armoured helicopters, often used as firing platforms in Rio de Janeiro's police operations.[13]

The Brazilian Supreme Court decision had an immediate impact on decreasing police operations in Rio de Janeiro. According to the report provided by 'Grupo de Estudos dos Novos Ilegalismos' from Universidade Federal Fluminense, the recent average from June 5 to October 31 (2007-2019) was 310 police operations, while in 2020, only 112 took place.[14] The same report attests to a decrease in criminality in the same period, which dismisses the conservative hypothesis that police operations in Rio de Janeiro are necessary to protect people against crime.[15]

However, after a few months of the Supreme Court ruling, police operations began to recur frequently again, increasing the number of murders committed by police officers in Rio de Janeiro's favelas. The breadth of the term exceptionality used in the Supreme Court decision allowed police authorities to exercise extreme discretion under which police operations can be considered exceptional. Nonetheless, the rise of murders by police officers after the ruling of ADPF 635 also testifies the lack of institutional cooperation on decreasing police violence.

The international responsibilities of Brazil on police violence, racism, and non-discrimination

 

The State of Brazil signed and ratified several international human rights treaties regarding the right to life, the integrity of all persons, and its duty to promote equality and non-discrimination.

Among the treaties ratified by Brazil about these topics is the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial discrimination, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Brazil is committed to adopt effective measures to combat discriminatory practices based on race or socioeconomic status that directly or indirectly threaten the right to life.[16]      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials is the key international instrument that deals with police use. According to international law sources, police officers should only use lethal force as a last resort;      when it is strictly necessary to protect themselves or others.[17] However, the police forces have been ignoring these measures for decades in Brazil and not implementing safer approaches that respects international human rights law. Consequently, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights claims that bodies and institutions responsible for the police investigation need to be independent and autonomous to provide police officers accountability for their crimes.[18]

The Brazilian State was already convicted in 2017 by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for police violence in case Favela Nova Brasília. The decision emphasized the need for the State of Rio de Janeiro to make its public agents less lethal, establish a Public Security plan that aims to reduce police violence, and an autonomous investigation body for when these violations occur.[19]

 

 

Police violence against black people in Brazil does not constitute isolated cases or exceptional events. They are acts of violence that are part of the historical and structural construction of racial and socioeconomic discrimination, which manifests systematically in Brazil, mainly in Rio de Janeiro.

The Supreme Court decision was a judicial attempt to reduce police violence against people that live in favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Due to the pandemic, social distance implies fewer people on the streets and less social and community control over police abuses. However, as noted with the rising of police operations again, a judicial decision is not enough to protect black people against police violence in the long term. All institutions related to public security matters must be committed to reducing police violence and lethality so that black people and people who live in favelas are safe.

The Brazilian State and all of its institutions responsible for complying with and guaranteeing      human rights. The Prosecutor's Office must fulfill its role of monitoring police operations in all circumstances, but even more emphatically within the validity of ADPF 635. The Police Forces must respect the Supreme Court decision and approach the police operations based on international standards, allowing force only in exceptional circumstances. Furthermore, the legislative branch must take the initiative to reduce police violence by, for example, prohibiting the use of helicopters as a firing platform.

The State of Rio de Janeiro and the Federal government must establish new public security measures and public policies to combat police violence and structural racism that makes black people most likely to be victims of these crimes.[20] Therefore, the State of Brazil urges institutional cooperation to protect black lives and guarantee the right to life and non-discrimination of people living in favelas.[21]