Brazilians, especially the poor and socially excluded, continued to suffer high levels of human rights violations. There were few policy initiatives in the area of human rights, with many federal government proposals still awaiting implementation and few, if any, state authorities introducing promised public security reforms. Violations at the hands of the police, including extrajudicial executions, torture and excessive use of force, persisted across the country. Torture and ill-treatment were widespread in the prison system, where conditions were often cruel, inhuman or degrading. Indigenous peoples suffered attacks and killings as well as forcible evictions from their ancestral lands and the federal government fell short of its stated goal of demarcating all remaining indigenous lands by 2006. Human rights defenders and land activists suffered threats, attacks and killings. Impunity for human rights violations was the norm, arising from the slowness of judicial proceedings and the reluctance of some of the judiciary to prosecute such cases.

Background

The year was marked by a political crisis as evidence emerged of high-level corruption involving members of the government and of Congress. Accusations that the governing Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT) had been involved in raising undeclared electoral funds, awarding government contracts dishonestly and buying votes in Congress shook the government and led to the resignation of the President's chief of staff, José Dirceu, and his subsequent expulsion from Congress. Three parliamentary inquiries into corruption were initiated and several members of Congress were under investigation by Congress' ethics committee. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva publicly apologized, accepting some of the charges levelled against his party, although denying any involvement.

Important efforts were made towards disarmament, with a law to control the carrying of guns introduced in 2003 apparently contributing to a national decline in homicides. However, Brazilians rejected a total ban on the sales of guns to civilians in a national referendum held in October, reflecting the public's anxiety about levels of crime. The federal authorities reported a decline of 8.2 per cent in the number of homicides nationally, the first such decline since 1992, while the state of São Paulo reported notable declines over a period of five years. These reductions were attributed to a combination of efforts to control small arms, alternative public security policies and targeted social investment at local level.

In October the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern about a number of issues including extrajudicial executions and torture by police forces and threats to indigenous populations.

Public security and killings by the police

Reports of extrajudicial executions, excessive use of force and the systematic use of torture by state police forces persisted. Many states continued to defend tough policing policies to counter high levels of crime.

The number of people killed by police in situations officially registered as "resistance followed by death" (implying that the police had acted in self-defence) remained high in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Between 1999 and 2004, more than 9,000 cases of police killings, predominantly "resistance followed by death", were recorded in the two states. Investigations into these killings continued to be minimal.

There were also recurrent reports of human rights violations by federal and state police officers involved in corrupt and criminal activity, and of killings perpetrated by "death squads" involving active and former members of the police. State governments consistently failed to implement the public security reforms set out in the proposed Single Public Security System (SUSP) and the federal government focused its attention on police training rather than broader human rights-based reforms. As a result, residents of poor communities continued to suffer discriminatory, invasive and violent policing which failed to combat crime or provide any form of security.

  • On 31 March, 29 people were killed in the Baixada Fluminense district of Rio de Janeiro. The killings were attributed to a "death squad" of military police officers, who drove through the towns of Queimados and Nova Iguaçu shooting randomly at passers-by. Ten military police officers and one former police officer were arrested and charged with murder. The joint federal and civil police investigation linked at least 15 earlier killings to the massacre suspects, who were believed to have been involved in kidnapping and extorting money from lorry drivers.

While official statistics of police killings declined in São Paulo, human rights groups and residents of poor communities reported several multiple homicides allegedly committed by police officers.

  • On 22 June, five youths aged between 14 and 22 were reportedly executed by members of the civil police in the Morro do Samba community in Diadema. During a raid on the area, 35 police officers reportedly cornered the five in a house and sprayed them with machine-gun fire from the door and through the roof. Investigations into the killings were reportedly closed as the Internal Investigations Unit claimed the victims were all drug traffickers. Some family members of the dead youths were forced to leave the community for fear of reprisals.

In November the parliamentary Commission of Inquiry of the lower house of Congress published its final report on "death-squad" activity in the north-east, detailing cases from nine states. According to one of the parliamentarians responsible for the report, all involved active or former police officers. The report found links between state officials, business interests and organized crime across the north-east.

Torture and ill-treatment

Torture and ill-treatment continued to be used at the time of arrest, during interrogations and as a means of control within the detention system. There were also many reports of torture being used by law enforcement officials for criminal ends.

Impunity persisted and lack of published information about prosecutions under the 1997 Torture Law made the extent of the problem uncertain. The federal government's promised campaign against torture was finally launched in December. Proposals for Brazil to ratify the UN Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture were pending before Congress.

Throughout 2005 there were reports of torture in São Paulo's FEBEM juvenile detention centres. Punishment units were reportedly staffed by guards from the adult prison system, contrary to the law. In the Vila Maria unit, which was reportedly used as a punishment centre, detainees were allegedly tortured and locked up all day. Concern was heightened by attempts by the authorities to block access to the detainees.

Riots within the juvenile detention system led to the death of at least five young detainees. In an apparent attempt to undermine the work of human rights groups, Governor Geraldo Alckmin accused two leading human rights activists – Conceição Paganele and Ariel de Castro Alvez – of inciting the riots. In November the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered the Brazilian government to take measures to improve the FEBEM system.

  • In September, the mother of a juvenile in the Vila Maria unit reported that her son had been so severely beaten by wardens that he was urinating blood. Another imprisoned juvenile showed his mother bruising and signs of torture. He told her that the director of the unit had personally ordered that his food be withheld. He was kept for four days in solitary confinement, after being dragged out of class by a guard who shot five times into the ceiling to intimidate him.

In April, two civil police officers, from Xinguara in the state of Pará, were convicted of the torture of a 15-year-old boy in 1999. The boy was severely beaten and suffered continuing psychological problems. This was the first conviction for torture in the region.

In November a video was aired on television showing veteran soldiers of an armoured infantry unit in the state of Paraná inflicting electric shocks, drowning and branding with irons during an initiation ceremony of recent recruits. The army immediately announced the suspension of the commanding officer and an internal investigation.

Prison conditions

Conditions in prisons amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the prison population continued to rise. Overcrowding, poor sanitation and lack of health facilities contributed to frequent riots and high levels of prisoner-on-prisoner violence. There were also consistent reports of violent and abusive behaviour by guards, including the use of torture and ill-treatment. Special punishment regimes for prisoners found guilty of crimes within the prison system continued to be used, although in July the National Council on Criminal and Penal Policy of the Ministry of Justice described them as unconstitutional and contrary to international standards for the protection of detainees.

In Rio de Janeiro, human rights groups denounced conditions in the Polinter pre-trial detention centre. In August the unit held 1,500 detainees in a space designed for 250, with an average of 90 men per 3m x 4m cell. Between January and June, three men were killed in incidents between prisoners. Officials in the detention centre were also forcing detainees to choose which criminal faction they wished to be segregated with inside Polinter. In November the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered the Brazilian government to take measures to improve the situation.

In June, during a riot in Zwinglio Ferreira detention centre in Presidente Venceslau, São Paulo state, five detainees were beheaded by other prisoners from opposing prison gangs.

In November the federal Commission of Human Rights of Congress held a public hearing on women in detention. The Commission received reports of human rights violations against women detained in São Paulo, who suffered from overcrowding, especially the 52 per cent held, many irregularly, in police holding cells.

Abuses in connection with land disputes

Thirty-seven land workers were killed between January and November, according to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT). However, according to the CPT, even more died as a result of lack of medical or social assistance after they were evicted from land they had settled. Many land workers suffered death threats and harassment, as did homeless activists in cities and activists fighting against the constructions of dams.

In November, members of a congressional inquiry into rural violence approved a final report which called for farm invasions by land workers from the Landless Workers' Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST) to be denoted "terrorist acts". They voted down a version of the report that cited the lack of land reform as the major factor in land conflict.

Reports of the use of slaves or indentured labour persisted. In December, AI delegates were informed by members of the Araquara town council that many sugar cane workers in the interior of São Paulo state had died, allegedly from exhaustion. According to these reports, workers were forced to cut several tons of sugar cane each day.

Proposed legislation that would allow the confiscation of land where slave labour is used remained in Congress. According to figures from the CPT, by August the government's campaign to combat slave labour had received reports of 173 such cases involving 5,407 people.

Indigenous peoples campaigning for land and human rights faced violent attacks and forced evictions. Many suffered extreme deprivation as a result. In Mato Grosso do Sul, long-standing demarcation processes of Guarani-Kaiowa lands were delayed by judicial proceedings, culminating in the forced evictions of Guarani-Kaiowa. While the federal government did ratify some important territories, they remained a long way from complying with their promised target of demarcating all remaining indigenous lands by 2006.

  • On 12 February, hired gunmen killed Sister Dorothy Stang, a nun who had long campaigned on ecological and land issues in Pará state. Two days earlier she had met the federal government's Special Secretary for Human Rights and told him of death threats against her. In December, two gunmen were convicted of the killing but those who allegedly ordered it were still awaiting trial. After this killing, the federal government sent federal police and army forces to help in investigations and to support the formation of a protected ecological area. Nevertheless, according to human rights groups, numerous land activists in the region were still under threat. A further 15 land activists were killed in the first six months of 2005 in Pará. An appeal to transfer Sister Dorothy's case to the federal judicial system was turned down by the Federal Appeals Court. This was the first case to seek to use new legislation allowing human rights crimes to be heard in the federal system.
  • In February, two homeless activists were shot and killed by military police officers during their forced eviction from a building in Goania, Goias state.
  • In June Adenilson dos Santos and his son Jorge were killed when four armed men, allegedly undercover police officers belonging to a "death squad", opened fire at a party held by the Truká community in Cabrobó, Pernambuco. The police stated that there was an exchange of fire, but Truká representatives stated that no one at the party was armed. The Truká alleged the attack was a result of their struggle for land and their opposition to organized crime and drug-trafficking organizations in their territory.

Human rights defenders

Human rights defenders, including those defending marginalized groups, opposing organized crime and corruption, and challenging vested political and economic interests, suffered defamation, threats, attacks and killings. The federal government's promised programme for the protection of human rights defenders showed little sign of implementation. In December the UN Special Representative on the situation of human rights defenders visited Brazil.

  • In September, military police raided the offices of Antonio Fernandez Saenz, a lawyer working with the socially deprived inhabitants of São Bernardo do Campo, south of São Paulo. The officers allegedly did not present a search warrant and took several documents containing statements by local residents accusing civil and military police of torture, extortion and sexually assaulting children. When Antonio Fernandez Saenz tried to report the incident to the civil police, he was threatened and intimidated. According to reports, he continued to receive anonymous death threats.

Impunity

The criminal justice system continued to fail those suffering human rights violations, as few perpetrators were brought to justice. There was little progress in several long-standing cases. The commanding officers convicted of the 1992 Carandiru massacre of prisoners by the military police and the 1997 Eldorado dos Carajás massacre of land activists remained at liberty pending appeals. Individual police officers in both cases were still awaiting trial.

Human rights groups expressed dismay following the government's announcement that only selected archives relating to "disappearances" and killings of political prisoners during the military government would be opened.

AI country visits

AI delegates visited Brazil in January, April and November/December.

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