Maré convenes a rally against decision to suspend control on police operations
Public Civil Action to protect inhabitants was overturned by a judge’s decision in Rio de Janeiro, in the month of June
The 2nd March Against Violence in Maré will be on Wednesday 10 July at 2pm
In June 2016, during a police operation that left one person dead and another six injured, inhabitants and organisations from the Maré favelas went to the on-call legal service at the city of Rio de Janeiro Tribunal to try, together with the Public Defender’s Office to stop this illegal action that lasted over 12 hours and led to numerous violations of inhabitants.
At this time, in an unprecedented move, the Courts decided on immediate cessation of the action and summoned those responsible for the operation to provide clarification. Following the injunction, in a broader action by the Defender’s Office, a Public Civil Action (ACP) was proposed to protect the 147 thousand inhabitants of the 16 favelas that make up the region, during police actions and raids in the area.
This action was rolled out in 2017 following a decision in its favour and was in force until 19 June, when it was suspended by Judge Regina Lucia Chuquer de Almeida Costa Castro, at the 6th Court of the Treasury in the city of Rio de Janeiro. In an attempt to reverse this decision, inhabitants and organisations in Maré will meet on Wednesday 10 to discuss the impact of compliance with the Public Civil Action and will call on the courts to reinstate the action. This event will take place at the Praça da Paz, at 2pm.
Conectas took the case to the UN on Monday 8, when they presented the suspension of the Public Civil Action during the 41st Session of the Human Rights Council, in Geneva and asked the United Nations to demand a response from Brazil on this arbitrary decision by the state judiciary.
Public Civil Action in Maré
In the action presented by the Núcleo de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos (Centre for the Defence of Human Rights) at the State Public Defender’s Office (Nudedh), defenders called for changes in the guidelines for police operations in Maré, such as the presentation of a damage limitation plan. The obligatory presence of ambulances during raids, the installation of cameras and GPS on police cars and the creation of a communications protocol between public security authorities and the heads of schools and health centres were also requested.
According to the organisation Redes da Maré, the measures implemented between 2017 and 2018 led to a 61% drop in the number of police operations in the region. There was also a reduction of 82% in the number of people injured by firearms in the same period.
