In Supreme Court, organizations call for suspension of police operations in Rio de Janeiro
The request was made in the records of ADPF Case 635, which calls for the alignment of the state’s security policy with national and international human rights standards
The request was made in the records of ADPF Case 635, which calls for the alignment of the state’s security policy with national and international human rights standards
A coalition of organizations filed yesterday, May 25, a petition in the Supreme Court to suspend police actions in Rio de Janeiro during the Covid-19 pandemic. The request was addressed to Justice Edson Fachin, the rapporteur of ADPF 635 – a case proposed by the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) that calls for the gross violations caused by the state’s public security policy to be recognized and remedied.
The organizations are asking the Supreme Court to order the suspension of police operations in favelas during the Covid-19 epidemic, except in absolutely exceptional cases that are properly justified in writing by the competent authority and notified immediately to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. In these extraordinary cases, the organizations ask that the court order exceptional precautions to be taken to avoid putting the population, the public health services and the humanitarian aid activities at even more risk.
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The petition filed this Tuesday was proposed by the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), which drafted the ADPF Case 635 in conjunction with the Public Defender’s Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro and the organizations Educafro, Justiça Global, Redes da Maré, Conectas Direitos Humanos, Movimento Negro Unificado and ISER, which are qualified as amicus curiae in the case. According to the organizations, the dramatic state of human rights violations caused by Rio de Janeiro’s security policy has got worse since Justice Fachin’s vote on the case, especially given the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the favelas and urban outskirts of the state.
Context
The judgement of ADPF Case 635 started on April 17, when the rapporteur, Justice Edson Fachin, gave his vote on the precautionary measures that had been requested. In his vote, the justice accepted some of the interim requests related to the preservation of the crime scene and improving the work of the forensic bodies; the recognition of the exceptional nature of police raids in areas near schools, daycare centers, health clinics and hospitals; restrictions on firing guns from helicopters in police operations; and refining the work of the Rio de Janeiro state Public Prosecutor’s Office. The organizations note, however, that other important requests were not accepted and that this recognition is decisive to save lives in the favelas and urban outskirts of the city.
According to data from the Security Observatories Network, the number of police operations grew in the state of Rio de Janeiro starting in April and now surpass the figure in 2019, with an increase of 27.9%. The number of killings by the police also increased: despite a decline in the early days of the epidemic, in April 2020, there was a sharp increase of 57.9% in April and of 16.7% until May 19, compared to the same period last year. The data also indicate that the police in Rio de Janeiro have used more lethal force during the pandemic than in the equivalent months of 2019, when the state had a record of 1,810 deaths caused by police intervention.
“It is unacceptable for the State to conduct police operations that disrespect life and do not protect the homes and the health of residents of poor and vulnerable communities during this pandemic,” said Gabriel Sampaio, coordinator of the program to Combat
Institutional Violence at Conectas. “Young people are killed, families are destroyed and social actions to distribute food staples are disrespected in places where bullets and repression arrive before social services,” he added.
The police operations have been halting the work of healthcare facilities and the distribution of food staples in favelas. This has occurred in recent operations in the Alemão, Cidade de Deus and Providência favelas, where black youth were killed during actions of solidarity carried out by local groups. “The State, which has done little to contain the pandemic in the favelas and urban outskirts, has responded to the worst health crisis in a century with an escalation of violence. There is an urgent need to stop the genocide,” said Wallace Corbo, a lawyer for the organization Educafro and an amicus curiae in the case.
“These measures are absolutely crucial and could have saved young lives like the one of João Pedro and so many other children and adolescents,” said Lívia Casseres, a public defender. “A security policy is only compatible with the Constitution if it can protect the lives of all people, including black lives, the lives of the favelas. We cannot keep waiting for a decision from the Supreme Court while the most vulnerable in society endure the worst and most cruel effects of the unconstitutional and disproportionate actions of the public authorities in charge of security,” she concluded.
