{"id":5257,"date":"2015-10-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.conectas.org.inf.br\/wp\/noticias\/the-humiliation-persists\/"},"modified":"2021-04-23T18:57:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T18:57:42","slug":"the-humiliation-persists","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/the-humiliation-persists\/","title":"The humiliation persists","content":"

\"\"<\/a>Seven Brazilian organizations, including Conectas, will denounce in the IACHR (Inter-American Commission of the OAS) this Friday, October 23, the persistence of \u2018abusive searches\u2019 \u2013 undressing and genital inspections \u2013 to which women, children and elderly people are submitted when they visit their relatives in the country\u2019s prisons.<\/p>\n

In addition to the absence of legislation banning the practice on the national level, the organizations will criticize the government of S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 the state with the largest prison population in Brazil \u2013 for non-compliance with the state law (15,552\/2014<\/u><\/a>) that puts an end to these types of searches in S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s prisons.<\/p>\n

According to reports, abusive searches are still being conducted in the state\u2019s prisons even though the law was passed more than a year ago. In 2014, research<\/u><\/a> by the Criminal Justice Network<\/u><\/a> based on official documents of the State Prison Administration Department revealed that contraband was found in just three of every 10,000 searches.<\/p>\n

\u201cReports show that this search procedure, besides being extremely invasive and violating individual guarantees such as the dignity of the human person, is conducted in unsanitary conditions, without any consideration for hygiene or respect for minimum health standards, exposing visitors to the risk of communicable diseases,\u201d say the organizations.<\/p>\n

The statement will be made in a public hearing at the 156th Session<\/u><\/a> of the IACHR (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights) in Washington, starting at 5.15 pm (Bras\u00edlia time). Click here<\/u><\/a> to watch the broadcast online.<\/p>\n

Almost nine years ago, the IACHR determined that the procedure is incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights<\/u><\/a>, which was ratified by Brazil in 1992. Last year, the UN rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, also stated<\/u><\/a> that the inspection constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, in conflict with the Convention against Torture<\/u><\/a>, which has also been ratified by the country, in 1989.<\/p>\n

According to the Map of the Abusive Search<\/u><\/a>, there are 24 laws, bills, decrees, court decisions and other rules banning the procedure in Brazil\u2019s states and municipalities.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the past year, a bill banning these searches in all prison facilities across the country was approved unanimously in the Senate<\/u><\/a> and in the Commission on Human Rights and Minorities<\/u><\/a> of the Lower House of Congress.\u00a0This bill, now numbered 7764\/2014<\/u><\/a>, still needs to be approved by the Public Security Commission and the Constitution and Justice Commission of the Lower House and signed into law by President Dilma Rousseff.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/u><\/a> to read the report by the Brazilian organizations submitted to the IACHR.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch the video of the campaign \u201cFor an End to the Abusive Search\u201d, narrated by Denise Fraga:<\/strong><\/p>\n