Conectas and Public Defenders condemn violations in the Baixada Santista, at the UN
A document sent to the UN calls for clarification and measures to guarantee human rights in the region
A operação verão já deixou mais de 50 pessoas mortas. Foto: Caio Guatello/ AFP
On Thursday (28), Conectas Human Rights and the São Paulo Public Defenders Office sent a document to the UN providing an update on human rights violations in the Baixada Santista region of the state of São Paulo, during an operation dubbed Shield then Summer.
Read more:
- Organizations denounce Operation Shield to the international community
- At the UN, NGOs denounce human rights violations during Operations Shield
The urgent appeal was sent to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz and to the representative in South America of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jan Jarab.
In the text, the organisations emphasise that, as of March 26, at least 56 people were killed in police interventions within the scope of the operation. “If added to the deaths from the first phase (28), the operations have already resulted in the violent deaths of 81 people in the Baixada Santista.”
In the document sent to the international community, the organisations make a series of requests, including: that the Brazilian state provide proper explanations regarding the violent actions of police forces in the operation; the mandatory use of cameras during all police operations and the guarantee of comprehensive assistance, reparations and access to investigations for the families of victims and individuals who suffered violations during the operations.
A History of Denouncements
Civil society have been denouncing the operations since the first phase last year. In September 2023, Conectas Human Rights and the Mothers of May Movement submitted a complaint to the UN Human Rights Council about the human rights violations that occurred during Operation Shield in the Baixada Santista (SP).
In February, Conectas Human Rights, the Public Defender’s Office of São Paulo, the Vladimir Herzog Institute, and the Forum on Public Security reported the extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions, as well as the escalation of violence on the coast of São Paulo to the UN and IACHR (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights).
In March, Conectas Human Rights and the Arns Commission also went to the UN Human Rights Council to denounce lethal operations and the escalation in police violence in the Baixada Santista.
See here the statement made at the UN Human Rights Council
