IACHR
Press Release
IACHR Concerned about Killings Committed by Police Officers in Brazilian Urban Contexts
April 25, 2019
IACHR Press and Communication Office
Tel: +1 (202) 370-9000
[email protected]
Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) is concerned about killings committed by police officers in
Brazilian urban contexts, and also about an excessive use of force
by officers of the country’s public security forces. The Commission
calls on the State to take effective action to investigate and
punish such violence impartially and with due diligence, and
particularly to ensure the participation of independent supervision
mechanisms.
In the context of its monitoring efforts, the IACHR heard allegations of
murders linked to police activity, encouraged by police officers or
otherwise involving police officers. Based on those allegations, poor
suburban communities with high concentrations of Afro-descendant persons
tend to bear the brunt of that violence.
According to data issued by the Public Security Institute of the state of
Rio de Janeiro, for instance, operations involving officers of the State led
to 305 deaths in that state in the first two months of 2019 alone. According
to data issued by the same institution, such crimes increased by
approximately 18% relative to the first two months of 2018. Given these
alarming figures, the IACHR stresses the need to adopt a comprehensive
approach to citizen security which includes designing, implementing and
permanently assessing public policies that are both comprehensive and
sustainable, strategies to reduce lethal action by police, and a focus on
protecting the human rights of all persons.
The Commission was told about a massacre on February 1 in the favelas
(slums) of Coroa, Fallet-Fogueteiro and dos Prazeres, in the city of Rio de
Janeiro. According to the information obtained by the IACHR, following a
police raid involving officers of the Special Operations and Riot units, 15
young residents of the area were murdered, which would make this the police
raid with the highest death toll over the past 12 years in Rio de Janeiro.
The IACHR was also informed about the murder of at least nine people on
January 20, 2019 in Marambaia, in the town of Itaboraí, in the Rio de
Janeiro metropolitan area. That massacre allegedly happened following the
murder of military police officer Rodrigo Marques Paiva.
The Commission notes that both the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the
state of Rio de Janeiro and the Military Prosecutor’s Office decided to
close the case against officers of Army Special Operations personnel who had
allegedly taken part in a raid in November 2017 in which eight people were
said to have been murdered in the Complexo do Salgueiro, in the municipality
of São Gonçalo, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The IACHR urges the State to
comply with its obligation to identify the people responsible for those
events and to make sure that such killings do not go unpunished.
The Commission observes with concern a pattern of excessive use of force
by police officers, high rates of killings by police and collaboration of
public security officers with organized crime gangs and militias. The IACHR
stresses a concern about the
growing militarization of citizen security policies it already noted at
the end of its in loco visit to Brazil in November 2018.
Along similar lines, the IACHR highlights the importance of continuing to
strengthen the independence and autonomy of justice system operators and
supervision mechanisms involved in investigating the activities of civilian
and military police officers. The Commission is also concerned about the
fact that
authorities linked to the leadership of those same security forces are being
enlisted to investigate and prosecute such crimes, particularly
following the adoption of Act 13,491/2017 (which amended the Military Penal
Code so that intentional homicides of civilians committed by Armed Force
personnel are tried by military courts).
The IACHR calls on the State to take effective protection measures to
address raids by its officers that—directly or indirectly—threaten the right
to life. In particular, the Commission calls on the State to design and
implement social, community and situation plans and programs aimed at
addressing the issues that favor a perpetuation of violent conduct within
society.
Finally, the IACHR calls on the State to take effective action to investigate and punish such violence impartially and with due diligence. Specifically, the State must ensure the participation of independent supervision mechanisms to represent the victims, assess formal complaints and investigate such violence, and it should even consider the systematic implementation of federal investigations in such cases.
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. 103/19