At the UN, Brazilian organizations denounce failure to comply with injunction related to ADPF Favelas Case

The statement, made during the 47th session of the HRC (Human Rights Council), mentions a number of cases of police violence against black people and a lack of accountability.

On Monday 12th, in a UN Human Rights Council session, five Brazilian organizations denounced non-compliance with ADPF (Allegation of Violation of a Fundamental Precept) number 635, known as the ´ADPF of the Favelas´, by Rio de Janeiro public security officers. 

The organizations who undersigned the denouncement were: Conectas, Redes da Maré (Maré Network), Iniciativa Direito à Memória e Justiça Racial (The Right to Memory and Racial Justice Initiative), Global Justice and Instituto de Defesa da População Negra (the Institute for the Defence of the Black Community). The alert was made within the context of the presentation of a report on systemic racism around the world, put together by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet. 

For the organizations, the massacre in the Jacarezinho favela and operations carried out in the Maré complex and the Baixada Fluminense are examples of a failure to comply with the injunction, issued by Minister Edson Fachin, who on 5 June 2020 and within the framework of ADPF 635, restricted police operations in the favelas of the city of Rio de Janeiro during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lastly, the organizations are calling on the “Supreme Federal Court to urgently resume discussions on the ADPF, guaranteeing both the injunction that prohibits operations during the pandemic and a plan to reduce police lethality”. Furthermore, they are calling on the HRC to set up “an instrument to increase accountability for human rights violations against black people, particularly in the context of police violence.”

Watch the full denouncement at the UN Human Rights Council: