In a period of three months — between July and September last year — police in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia killed 394 people in operations, as shown by data from Amnesty International's global report released this Wednesday (24 ).
The body criticizes the excessive use of force by Brazilian police and points out a certain ineffectiveness of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security in combating violence. Amnesty also points out that the federal government continues to ignore measures to reduce police violence, including the use of body cameras.
A CNN contacted the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, but there has been no response yet.
“Regarding the use of police force, the situation is out of control. It begins with the body constitutionally responsible for controlling police activity, the Public Ministry, being silent and inoperative and ends with cases of police lethality that are not brought to justice. The message that the State reiterates is that the police have carte blanche to kill and commit other violations, especially against black and peripheral communities”, says Jurema Werneck, executive director of Amnesty International Brazil.
The document brings together analyzes and input on the human rights situation in 156 countries. According to the data, the excessive use of lethal force by police was also observed throughout America, mainly in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico and the USA.
In a statement, the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat stated that security forces work to arrest and bring lawbreakers to justice and that cases of confrontation are a direct consequence of the violent reaction of criminals to police action in combating crime. organized.
“All cases of death resulting from police intervention are rigorously investigated by the Civil and Military Police, with monitoring by the respective internal affairs bodies, the Public Ministry and the Judiciary. Measures to reduce lethality are permanently evaluated and adopted. The institutions also invest in staff training, the acquisition of non-lethal equipment and other initiatives aimed at improving security agents”, says the ministry.
The Public Security Secretariat of Rio de Janeiro reported that the state recorded a 45% reduction in deaths due to State Agent Intervention in February 2024, compared to February 2023. “As for the actions of the Civil Police, they are all carried out by trained agents, after meticulous planning, always prioritizing the preservation of lives, both of police officers and citizens. The Military Police has invested extensively in technology and logistics in the area of intelligence in order to map the areas of instability where clashes involving rival criminal groups occur. Furthermore, the entire corporation already uses body cameras in street actions”, he adds.
Also in a note, the Public Security Secretariat of Bahia highlighted that violent deaths dropped by 6% in 2023 compared to the previous year.
“The increase in investments in technology and equipment, in addition to the hiring of 3,200 police officers and firefighters, guaranteed in the 1st quarter of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, a 9% decrease in murders. It also highlights that intelligence actions resulted in the capture of 4,672 people in 2024, a number 6% higher than last year, in addition to an increase in firearm seizures. In the first three months, 1,502 rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, pistols and revolvers were removed from the streets, representing a 17% increase in productivity. SSP also emphasizes that it has invested in training and new structures, allowing better working conditions for security professionals, in the search for the preservation of life”.
Violence against defenders, women and indigenous peoples are the main violations
The Amnesty report points to violence against human rights defenders, women and indigenous peoples as the main human rights violations in the Americas region.
According to the analysis, defenders working to protect land and the environment have faced increasing risks in countries such as Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico.
Gender-based violence, including femicide, continued to be the norm across the region. In Mexico, an average of nine women were murdered per day, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System, and the majority of cases were never effectively resolved. The agency also points to the lack of access to abortion as one of the violations.
Amnesty also noted that indigenous peoples continued to be disproportionately affected by human rights violations, and cited the national public health emergency declared in the Yanomami indigenous territory as part of the problem.
Still according to data from the report, poverty and extreme poverty rates in the Americas region, which increased significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic, returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, but countries continued to fail to take the necessary measures to comply the goal present among the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of ending poverty by 2030.
Almost 30% of the population of Latin America, 183 million people, continue to live in poverty and 11.4%, 72 million, in extreme poverty.
Source: CNN Brasil
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