WUNRN
Amnesty International
Direct Link to Report:
Brazil:
Picking Up the Pieces: Women's Experience of
Urban
Violence in Brazil
_____________________________________________________________________
17 April
2008
Women in
Brazil are finding themselves left to pick up the pieces following criminal and
police violence in shanty-towns.
Stories of urban violence in Brazil tend to focus on young men. Though men make
up the bulk of the victims and perpetrators, the stories of women who are
forced to live, bring up their children and fight for justice in Brazil’s
lawless shanty-towns, are often ignored.
Brazilian cities have long suffered high levels of both criminal and police
violence. Some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in Brazil are
often dominated by drug gangs. The government’s response has been a series of
ever more confrontational crack-downs, involving police operations which target
not just criminal gangs, but entire communities.
Backdrop of violence
Women in these communities live in a climate
of constant insecurity. Far from providing protection, the
police often subject women to illegal searches by male officers and abusive and
discriminatory language and intimidation, especially when they attempt to
intervene to protect a relative.
Women who fight for
justice on behalf of their sons or husbands end up on the
frontline of change, facing further threats and harassment. One woman told
Amnesty International, “We can’t go on living under these conditions. We live
in fear."
Women are also at risk from drug chiefs and gang leaders. They dispense
punishment and protection and use women as trophies or bargaining tools.
Growing numbers of women are becoming involved in the drug trade. Many of these
women end up in Brazil’s overcrowded, unsanitary prison system, subject to
physical and psychological abuse – and in some cases rape.
Impact
The knock-on effects of crime and violence reverberate through entire
communities, severely affecting the provision of basic services, such as
healthcare and education. If local clinics fall within the territory of a rival
gang, women can be forced to travel miles to see a doctor. Maternity services,
crèches and schools can be closed for long periods because of police operations
or criminal violence. Healthcare workers and teachers are often too scared to
work in crime-blighted neighbourhoods.
Stopping the violence
Women who spoke to Amnesty International gave very clear messages of what is
needed:
The Brazilian state has introduced
some positive initiatives, including strengthening the protection of women
suffering from domestic violence. But long term policies are urgently needed to
tackle the broader issues of the impact of violence on women in excluded
communities.
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