Global Justice calls for UN intervention to curb violence in Rio

Brazilian NGO Global Justice, aimed at protecting human rights, sent a document to the United Nations (UN) asking the organization to come forward regarding the escalating wave of violence facing Rio de Janeiro this year, targeting children and adolescents. The texts calls for an intervention in a joint effort with authorities.

The report mentions that the high number of deaths stem from the work of the Military Police in favelas as well as underprivileged districts in Rio de Janeiro. “The police crackdowns, conducted with high-powered police cars and weaponry in urban areas are human rights violations in themselves, but this takes even more serious dimensions as it involves the lives of children and adolescents.”

In the document, sent to Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary executions Agnès Callamard, the NGO lists cases showing the state's neglect towards the safety of children, like 13-year-old Maria Eduarda Alves da Conceição, who was killed with shots from a rifle at a public school on March 30.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira