Campaign exposes violations around staging Rio 2016 Olympics
Rio de Janeiro - A photograph exhibition in Cinelândia, downtown Rio, is part of the campaign to expose abuses and rights violations in the preparations for staging the Rio 2016 Olympics 
With a hundred days to go until the Rio 2016 Olympics, the People's Committee on the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro launched a campaign Wednesday (Apr. 27) called “Countdown to the Exclusion Games—A Hundred Days, Zero Rights” (in a loose translation from Portuguese), which will expose one rights violation every day in connection with the preparations to stage the Rio 2016 Olympics. Allegations include forced evictions, forced labor, destruction of public places, overpriced contracts, or collapses of constructions and deaths.
Larissa Lacerda, a member of the committee, says it would take well over one hundred days to exhaust the full list of violations seen until now, but the campaign is focused on preventing further violations in the run up to the Games. In her opinion, the abuses committed in the context of the event are often eclipsed by the positive publicity around its legacy spread by authorities and mainstream media.
“Our efforts are designed to decry and stop the violations and avoid more people being disregarded and violated,” she said.
As part of the campaign, an exhibition was put up in Cinelândia, a busy square in downtown Rio, of pictures taken by professional photographers who live in areas impacted by projects related to the Olympics.
For Gizele Martins, a journalist who is a member of the Forum of the Youth of Rio de Janeiro, one of the most controversial legacies of the event is the militarization of the slums, which has already resulted in thousands of deaths and rights violations in poor communities.
“This militarization has had consequences for the lives of people across groups and ages. Deployments are present mainly in the slums of the Zona Sul [South Zone, an area of both wealthier neighborhoods and slums in south Rio] and such strategically located slum communities as the Maré, which is close to the international airport and major expressways. This project is designed to provide security to visitors in the city,” she said.
The local government of Rio de Janeiro, however, maintains that they are trying to carry out their projects with minimal impact to the daily lives of the local population and do not resort to forced evictions. According to city officials, the families who had to leave their homes “were living in project locations or environmental protection areas”, and were given the choice to receive compensation and apartments sold as part of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida affordable housing project. “The negotiations were transparent throughout,” they say.
As of the publication of this report, the Pacifying Police Coordinating Office could not be reached for comment on the allegations of abuses and deaths in the slums where Pacifying Police Units (UPP) are deployed.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Campaign exposes violations around staging Rio 2016 Olympics
