Groups that face inequalities Street Children Women Indigenous People Prisoners Landless People.

STREET CHILDREN IN BRAZIL Intermediate Modern Studies Brazil – Human Rights Issues

Street Children Main points Facts What are street children? Why are there so many street children? Problems faced by street children Help for street children Main points

FACTS Estimates on the numbers of Brazilian street children vary from 200,000 – 8 million. Each year around 40,000 children disappear. 27% of youngsters attend neither school nor work. Approximately 2.5 million children aged 10-15 have been forced into prostitution.

What are street children? Have no adults to look after them. Survive by themselves. Need to find own shelter and food. To survive they form groups or gangs for protection. Often found in large numbers in big cities with favelas – eg. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Why so many street children in Brazil? Urbanisation many end up in favelas where social problems exist – families split up – many children are abandoned or run away.

Why so many street children in Brazil? Poverty/high unemployment cannot afford to look after kids so abandon them or make them work – often job far from home and cannot afford transport – therefore sleep on streets weekdays and go home at weekends.

Why so many street children in Brazil? Government cutbacks in public expenditure and lack of social services means that if parents cannot look after children, then there is no alternative.

PROBLEMS FACING STREET CHILDREN REMEMBER: Drugs, Arrests, Violence, Income and Education. DAVIE

PROBLEMS FACING STREET CHILDREN Drugs– Adults exploit children by making them sell drugs and then take the money. To escape problems – many children become drug addicts – eg. sniff glue. Arrests – Regarded as vermin – police arrest them – tortured by police or while in prison.

PROBLEMS FACING STREET CHILDREN Violence Death squads hired to kill them by businessmen who see them as a threat to their business eg. Baixada Fluminense massacre (2005). Poor area outside Rio de Janeiro 30 people murdered by state police force.

Income Child labour is a growing problem in Brazil. Do anything to make money eg. wash cars or clean shoes. Education Need a permanent address to go to school. Unable to get a decent job in future with no education.

Surviving on the Streets Street children protect themselves in groups. They suffer violence from the police and other adults. They change the places they sleep all the time because they are frightened of being attacked. They keep moving through the night and sleep during the day. They choose public places to sleep like railway stations, shop fronts and church squares because there is less chance of being robbed and beaten up. Making money to live on the streets is one of the major challenges facing street children. They often wash cars or clean shoes. They sell newspapers or other products like cigarettes and lighters. Some run errands while others beg. Some specialise in stealing or prostitution if they have to.

Why are so many street children victims of ill treatment and abuse? Many people in Brazil see street children as vermin. There are thousands of them and they cause problems. The life of a street child has little or no value. To kill one is not murder. Many people think that the life of a street child has far less value than the value of their property. An important businessman in Rio de Janiero said, ‘when you eliminate a street child you are doing a favour for society’.

Crime Many organisations working in Brazil report that street children are the victims of murder and that the murderers rarely get caught, prosecuted or convicted. The newspapers and TV in Brazil sometimes report on the killing of children but very rarely. The authorities in Brazil deny there are any killings or say there are very few and not nearly as many as the human rights organisations claim. The actual number of street children being beaten, tortured and killed is difficult to calculate because incidents are often not reported. Witnesses fear for their own lives or they want the children removed from their area or the bodies of the street children are not found or identified. Often children killed by the military police are recorded as justifiable homicide or self-defence. Many dead children are not classed as children because an older age is written on the death record.

Candelaria On 23 July 1993, around one o’clock in the morning, a band of eight military policemen murdered eight street children, aged between 10 and 17 years, in front of the Candelária cathedral in the financial centre of Rio de Janeiro. The massacre began when three children were kidnapped in a nearby square, shot in the head and dumped in front of the Museum of Modern Art. The policemen then started shooting indiscriminately at a group of 50 children who were sleeping next to the cathedral. Four boys died at the scene and two others later in hospital. A further six boys were injured. After the massacre at Candelária, the extermination of street children continued unabated in the city of Rio de Janeiro and its suburbs. The lesson learnt from the Candelária massacre was not that Rio must stop killing its children, but that the killings must be kept well out of public view.

Recap

DEBATE ISSUE FOR DEBATE: Killing of street children in Brazil is not a problem One group will prepare arguments from the Government viewpoint on street children. (use p.125) The other group will prepare arguments from the viewpoint of the policemen (p.126)

Help for Street Children Government: New laws to protect rights of street children eg. 2006, a law was introduced which stated that street children could only be arrested if they had committed a crime. In 2005, a scheme was introduced to encourage children to go back to school. Parents given money for every child sent back to school.

Help for Street Children Voluntary Organisations: Task Brazil – Charity that helps children in Rio. Runs shelters for young children, pregnant teenagers and their babies. Offers basic medical care to street children.

Help for Street Children Pastoral Do Menor Charity in Rio that offers street children training to find work. Also tries to reintegrate children with family and then visit home to make sure children being looked after properly. Streets Ahead Project Run by BMS in Sao Paulo. Provides education and training.

Exam questions Explain, in detail, why human rights’ issues continue to be a problem in Brazil. (6 marks) Describe, in detail, two ways Native Indians and/or street children have made progress in Brazil in recent years.