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TITLE: BRAZIL HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE: FEBRUARY 1995
BRAZIL
Brazil is a constitutional federal republic comprising 26 states
and the federal district. In 1994 voters elected a new
President, two-thirds of the Senate, 513 federal deputies,
27 governors, and members of state legislatures. It was the
second time since the end of military rule that Brazilians
freely chose their President and renewed the legislative bodies
in accordance with the 1988 Constitution. Fernando Henrique
Cardoso became President on January 1, 1995, and will serve a
4-year term, reduced from 5 years by a 1994 constitutional
amendment.
Security forces in Brazil fall primarily under the control of
the states. State police are divided into two forces: the
civil police, with an investigative role, and the uniformed,
"military" police, who are responsible for maintaining public
order. According to the Constitution, the states' military
police must serve as army reserves; they maintain some vestiges
of military privileges, including special judicial systems.
Brazil's federal police force is very small and plays little
role in maintaining internal security. The military police
courts (distinct from the armed forces' courts-martial) are
overloaded, seldom conduct rigorous investigations of fellow
officers, and rarely convict them. The separate system of
state military police courts creates a climate of impunity for
police elements involved in extrajudicial killings or abuse of
prisoners, which is the single largest obstacle to altering
police behavior to eliminate such abuses.
Brazil exports primary products and has a large industrial
sector. Gross domestic product was $456 billion in 1993, and
the economy grew at a rate of 5 percent in 1994. The
Government issued a new currency in July and brought down the
rate of inflation from 50 percent a month to less than 2
percent by September. Large disparities in income distribution
continued, with the poorest fifth of the population receiving
only 2 percent of the national income, while the richest tenth
hold 51 percent.
The most serious human rights abuses continued to be some
instances of extrajudicial killings and torture committed by
the police. Justice is slow and unreliable, especially in
rural areas where powerful landowners use violence to settle
land disputes and influence the local judiciary. In urban
areas, the police are frequently implicated in killings and
abuse of prisoners, but the special police courts rarely
investigate effectively or bring the accused to trial. Regular
courts did take up two high-profile cases of extrajudicial
killing, and both cases were still pending at year's end (see
Section 1.a.). The poor, predominantly from racial minorities,
bear the brunt of most violence, whether committed by the
police or by criminals. Indigenous peoples, despite
constitutional guarantees, remain the victims of abuse and
neglect, with continued invasions of their land. Laws against
forced labor are not adequately enforced, and children are
exploited in the sugar and charcoal industries. A free press
and active human rights organizations expose abuses and demand
action to stop them. The Federal Government has made efforts
to respond to human rights abuses.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
Extrajudicial killings continued to be a serious problem
throughout the country. There are no reliable statistics on
the number of people that police, vigilante groups, or hired
gunmen murder annually. City morgue statistics frequently fail
to distinguish between murder and accident victims. The police
investigations in 90 percent of the cases were insufficient for
any judicial action, according to a recent study of 3,236
homicide victims in Rio de Janeiro by the Higher Institute for
Studies of Religion (ISER). In Sao Paulo, the official
statistics on the number of civilians killed by police fail to
include those who are wounded and die later in the hospital.
According to these statistics, the number of civilians killed
by Sao Paulo state's military police dropped from an average of
86 per month in 1991 and 1992 to 21 per month in 1994. No
national figures are available, but this drop in killings in
Brazil's largest city is significant. Both lethal and
nonlethal confrontations with police have fallen steadily since
1991. Human rights groups attributed this decrease to the
state government's appointment of a new state secretary for
public security who made clear that abuses would have to stop.
This leadership, along with courses in human rights, internal
transfers, and the threat of punishment reduced the number of
killings.
The special police courts have not yet tried the 120 police
accused of the 1992 Carandiru prison massacre. The police
prosecutor predicted he would conclude this case with
convictions in early 1995, but other lawyers following the
trial estimated that it would take much longer. (Police courts
are special courts with jurisdiction over the state police; see
Section 1.e.)
In Rio de Janeiro, the execution-style killing of street
children continued, according to reliable reports from
organizations aiding the youths. Five policemen, indicted for
the July 1993 killings of eight street children in downtown
Candalaria square, were still in jail awaiting trial by regular
courts. Their case was kept out of the special police courts
because they were not on duty at the time and apparently did
not use police equipment in the crime. Similarly, the regular
court system is trying the cases of 33 members of the police
gang accused of murdering 21 Vigario Geral residents in 1993,
but the number of the defendants and appeals involved means the
case is moving very slowly, with no trial date set. One of the
defendants escaped from custody of his fellow policemen; two
others fled before being arrested.
Despite efforts to prosecute the most notorious police crimes
and to improve training, the Rio de Janeiro state government
made little progress in stopping the high number of murders in
Rio de Janeiro. Some crimes appear to be politically
motivated, such as the murder of two black Workers' Party (PT)
activists June 13. Unknown gunmen killed the two PT members
shortly after they denounced police crimes at a party meeting
to discuss security issues; police investigating the murder
accused a common criminal.
On October 31, the Government sent in the armed forces to
control crime in Rio de Janeiro, placing civil and military
police forces under the command of a general. The joint
military-police operations to seize arms and drugs in Rio's
slums have been essentially nonviolent and popular with the
city's residents. Military authorities denied allegations of
illegal searches and arrests, saying they have worked closely
with judges to obtain the necessary warrants. The authorities
are investigating media reports of beatings and mistreatment.
In the state of Sao Paulo, the June 11 murder of a union
organizer and his wife, members of the Socialist Party of
Unified Workers (PSTU), appeared to be a professional killing,
with few clues found by police investigators. Colleagues of
the couple in the town of Sao Carlos believe they were killed
to prevent a repeat of the successful strike they organized
against the local sugar refineries in 1993.
Throughout Brazil, local human rights organizations point to
excessive use of force by police. The police killed Fernando
Neves, an employee of the Sao Martinho association for street
children, shooting him four times as he rode his bicycle home
crossing the path of police pursuing a car thief. Neves'
family received threats for demanding an investigation, and the
police officers identified by an internal inquiry as
responsible for the shooting remained on active duty. Rio de
Janeiro's governor acknowledged police abuses, including
summary executions, in the October 18 raid against drug gangs
in the Nova Brasilia slum that resulted in 13 deaths. In the
southern state of Santa Catarina, state military policemen were
accused of shooting an unarmed, escaped prisoner 12 times. The
authorities in Rio Grande do Sul held state military policemen
responsible for the killing of a prisoner in his hospital bed;
he had been recovering from wounds received in a gunfight that
left a policeman dead.
The Luiz Freire Cultural Center/Legal Advisory Service, a
prominent human rights group in the northeastern state of
Pernambuco, reported the number of murders there were on the
increase, with a total of 1,847 between January 1993 and July
1994. In those cases in which the killers could be identified
by some evidence, the group attributed 11 percent of the
murders to extermination squads and 5 percent to police.
In the northeastern state of Alagoas, the governor's temporary
appointment of an army colonel to command police forces in 1993
dramatically reduced the number of murders involving the state
military police. The Permanent Forum against Violence in
Alagoas, a locally prominent human rights group, implicated the
police in only 56 out of the 434 murders in Alagoas in the
first half of 1994, in contrast to 1992 when human rights
monitors attributed 80 percent of 600 homicides to police
forces.
A high crime rate, a failure to apprehend most criminals, and
an inept criminal justice system all contribute to public
acquiescence in police brutality and killings of criminal
suspects. Acts of intimidation, including death threats
against witnesses, prosecutors, judges, and human rights
monitors, often hindered investigation into these incidents.
Sao Paulo state military police prosecutors Stella Kuhlman and
Marco Antonio Ferreira Lima received death threats warning them
to stop investigating police crimes; Kuhlman found a bloodied
doll and a miniature casket left inside her office as a
warning. Another Sao Paulo prosecutor investigating police
corruption, Eliana Passarelli, was threatened. In Rio de
Janeiro, judges, the chief prosecutor investigating police
links to organized crime, and workers aiding street children
have all received death threats. An international lawyers'
committee report emphasized the extraordinarily high rate of
threats against judges and lawyers in Brazil.
In rural areas in the north and northeast, landowners often
intimidated judges, lawyers, and police by violence and threats
of violence. For example, in the northern state of Para, the
mayor of Xinguara and several landowners stand accused of
plotting the murder of a rural union leader in 1991, but their
cases have yet to be tried. In 1994, eight persons were
killed, three escaped attempts on their lives, and several
families fled Xinguara after learning their names were on the
landowners' "death list." These death lists include not just
rural union leaders, but anyone believed to be on the side of
squatters, such as shopkeepers who sell to them. Landowners
also threatened three Catholic priests, including father
Ricardo Rezende of the neighboring town of Rio Maria. Local
officials, who are linked to the mayor, took no action to
investigate the killings or to protect those on the death list.
On June 23 in Rio Maria, where six rural union leaders have
been gunned down since 1985, the authorities tried the man
accused of the attempted murder of union leader Carlos Cabral.
The defendant confessed to firing the shots, and witnesses
testified that he earlier had offered them money to kill
Cabral. The local jury ruled the crime was not premeditated,
however, and the judge gave the gunman a suspended sentence.
In contrast, when a court granted a change of venue from Rio
Maria to the state capital of Belem 600 miles away, a jury
convicted the ex-policeman hired to kill Cabral's two fellow
union leaders. The judge sentenced the killer to 50 years in
prison, but he escaped with three other inmates on October 24.
The authorities have not brought any of the landowners who
contracted for the killings to trial.
However, on December 16 the courts convicted a gunman, and the
ranch foreman who hired him, of killing union leader Expedito
de Souze in 1991, and sentenced them to 24- and 21-year prison
terms. However, the ranch owner--also accused of the
crime--failed to appear for trial. Despite a warrant for his
arrest, he remains at large (see Section 1.e.).
The Catholic Church's Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) reported
that land disputes resulted in 52 persons murdered in 1993, and
the CPT reported 37 such murders in the first 10 months of 1994.
The high level of crime and the failings of the judicial system
also contribute to public tolerance of vigilante lynchings of
suspected criminals. Lynchings occurred in all regions of the
country, but the state of Bahia had the record number of
lynchings--84--in 1993, and mobs killed 15 persons there in the
first 8 months of 1994. In Salto de Lontra, in the southern
state of Parana, a mob took an accused murderer out of the
police lockup in April and killed him while police watched.
There continued to be reports of murders of homosexuals, where
the identity of the killers remains unknown. In the Porto
Alegre area, such assailants murdered five transvestites, while
others have been beaten and robbed. On October 8, a military
police court in Sao Paulo reduced the sentence of a policeman
convicted of killing a transvestite from 12 to 6 years, noting
that being a transvestite was a "high risk" activity.
Prosecutors said they would appeal the decision, and several
prosecutors and law professors characterized the court's action
as illegal.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of politically motivated abductions.
Human rights groups often blamed the police or vigilante groups
for the disappearance of street children or persons believed to
be criminals.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
The Constitution prohibits torture and contains severe legal
penalties for torture or acquiescence in it. Yet the absence
of any law defining torture has led to nearly total impunity.
On June 23, a divided Supreme Court ruled on a torture case;
five justices voted to absolve a policeman, based on the
argument that Congress had failed to incorporate torture into
the Penal Code, but six justices prevailed to convict the
defendant based on the statutes defining norms for juvenile
justice, which specify penalties for torture. (The victim was
a minor when he was beaten into confessing a crime in August
1991.)
There are frequent credible reports that police beat and
torture criminal suspects to extract information, confessions,
or money. In Rio de Janeiro, law enforcement officials have
acknowledged that physical abuse of prisoners is common, and in
September the civil police established a special unit to
investigate charges of torture. In the state of Ceara, the Bar
Association reported that a police inspector charged with one
case of torture in 1993 was later found to be involved in 16
other incidents, but the inspector remained on the force while
criminal proceedings continued more than a year later.
Brazil's overcrowded prisons held 128,465 inmates in space
designed for 51,368. There are often six to eight prisoners in
a cell meant for three; some prisoners force others to pay for
the use of a bed. The Ministry of Justice reported that
rebellions average 2 per day, attempted or successful escapes,
3 per day. The Archbishop of Ceara, Aloisio Lorscheider, after
investigating conditions at a prison near Fortaleza on March 15
(and being held hostage temporarily), reported to the city
council about torture of prisoners, "food not fit for
cockroaches," and lack of hygiene.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution limits arrests to those caught in the act of
committing a crime or those arrested by order of a judicial
authority. The authorities usually respect the constitutional
provision for a judicial determination of the legality of
detention, although some convicted inmates are held beyond
their sentences due to poor record keeping. The law permits
provisional detention for up to 5 days under specified
conditions during a police investigation, but a judge may
extend this period. However, the police sometimes detain
street youths illegally without a judicial order or hold them
in incommunicado detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The judiciary is an independent branch of government, but in
many instances it is unable to ensure the right to fair trial.
The judicial system, with the Federal Supreme Court at its
apex, includes courts of first instance and appeals courts.
States organize their own judicial systems but must adhere to
the basic principles in the Federal Constitution. Brazil also
has a system of specialized courts dealing with police, labor,
elections, juveniles, and family matters.
Special police courts have jurisdiction over the state military
police; the record of these courts shows that punishment is the
exception rather than the rule. A human rights group in the
northeast, studying police crimes against civilians judged in
police courts over two decades (1970-1991), found only 8
percent of the cases resulted in convictions. In Sao Paulo,
another study found that only 5 percent result in convictions.
The courts (which are separate from the courts martial of the
armed forces, except for the final appeals court) are composed
of four ranking military police officials and one civilian
judge. With too few judges for the caseload, there are
backlogs, and human rights groups report a lack of zeal among
police charged with investigating fellow officers. An attempt
in Congress to pass a law giving ordinary courts jurisdiction
over police crimes against civilians remained stalled in 1994.
Defendants are entitled to counsel and must be made fully aware
of the charges against them. In cases in which a defendant
cannot afford an attorney, the court must provide one at public
expense; courts are supposed to appoint private attorneys to
represent poor defendants when public defenders are
unavailable, but there is often a de facto lack of defense.
Juries try only cases of willful crimes against life; a judge
tries all others.
The right to a fair public trial, as provided for by law, is
generally respected in practice, although in rural areas the
judiciary is less capable and more subject to the influence of
local landowners, particularly in cases related to indigenous
peoples and rural union activists. Local police are less
zealous in investigating, prosecutors are reluctant to initiate
proceedings, and judges find reasons to delay when cases
involve gunmen contracted by landowners to eliminate squatters
or rural union activists.
The need for judicial reform is widely recognized because the
current system is inefficient, with backlogs of cases and
shortages of judges. In Manaus the authorities took no action
in 80 percent of the crimes against life that should have gone
to juries, due to insufficient police action to gather evidence.
Out of 176 townships in the northeast state of Pernambuco,
73 do not have a judge. Low pay, combined with exacting
competitive exams that in some years eliminate 90 percent of
the applicants, makes it difficult to fill vacancies on the
bench. Due to the backlog of cases, under the Brazilian system
where a trial must be held within a certain period of time from
the date of the crime (similar to a statute of limitations),
old cases are frequently dismissed. According to a former
judge, this encourages corrupt judges purposely to delay
certain cases so they can be dismissed.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Constitution provides for freedom from arbitrary intrusion
into the home. There were no reports of illegal entry for
political reasons, but illegal entry into homes without a
warrant occurs in searches for criminal suspects. A women's
rights group in the city of Porto Alegre reported suspected
police involvement in five break-ins at its offices--each time
its files on spousal abuse and finances were ransacked.
Wiretaps are unconstitutional except when authorized by a
judicial authority for purposes of criminal investigation and
prosecution. The inviolability of private correspondence is
respected.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The 1988 Constitution abolished all forms of censorship and
provides for the right to free speech and to a free press. The
authorities respect these rights in practice. The press and
broadcast media routinely discuss controversial social and
political issues and engage in investigative reporting. Most
radio and television stations are privately owned; but the
Government controls licensing authority and politicians
frequently obtain the licenses. Eighteen television and 115
radio stations are owned by current or former congressmen, some
of whom are or were members of the committee overseeing
communications. Newspapers and magazines, which are privately
owned, vigorously report and comment on government performance.
Congress is considering changing the penalty for libel under
the 1967 Press Law--a prison term--which judges consider
extreme. The Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper called current legal
regulation of the press "an archaic and authoritarian press law
inherited from the military regime." The 1994 Inter-American
Press Association (IAPA) report on freedom of the press in
Brazil said, "there has been increasing recourse to the (1967)
press law, especially by the executive and the judiciary,
against journalists." According to the report, the courts
tried seven journalists and a labor leader for libel and
defamation of character under this law after complaints by the
executive branch; they jailed one and freed the others as
first-time offenders. Lucio Flavio Pinto, an independent
journalist in Belem, Para state, had to close his weekly
newsletter in order to defend himself against the suits brought
by the owners of the city's major newspaper for libel and
defamation under the 1967 press law. The IAPA also called for
an investigation into the February killing of a newspaper
publisher in Vitoria da Conquista, Bahia state. In the state
of Sergipe, four journalists received death threats after
criticizing the police in their newsletter.
Foreign publications are widely distributed in Brazil; prior
review of films, plays, and radio and television programming is
practiced only to determine a suitable viewing age.
Academic freedom is respected.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution provides for the right to assemble peacefully,
and this right is respected in practice. Permits are not
required for outdoor political or labor meetings, and such
meetings occur frequently.
c. Freedom of Religion
There is no favored or state religion. All faiths are free to
establish places of worship, train clergy, and proselytize,
although the Government controls entry into Indian lands.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
There are no restrictions on movement within Brazil, except for
the protected Indian areas, nor are there any restrictions on
emigration or return. Some towns in the south, however, were
reported to be trying to block the entry of poor migrants from
the north. Brazil admits few immigrants, does not formally
accept refugees for resettlement, and is selective in granting
asylum.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
The Constitution provides for the right of citizens to change
their government through free elections, and citizens exercised
this right in 1994, filling executive and legislative offices
throughout the country. Brazilians chose the President,
two-thirds of the Senate, 513 federal deputies, 27 governors,
and members of state assemblies from a multitude of parties and
alliances.
Voting is secret and mandatory for all literate Brazilian
citizens aged 18 to 70, except military conscripts who may not
vote. It is voluntary for minors aged 16 to 18, for the
illiterate, and for those aged 70 and over.
Women have full political rights under the Constitution, and
they are becoming active in politics and government. In the
1994 elections, voters elected 1 female governor and 34 women
to the Chamber of Deputies (out of 513 seats). Five women
serve in the Senate (out of 81). The 1988 Constitution gave
Indians the franchise, but their ability to protect their own
interests is severely limited (see Section 5). Eight Indian
candidates ran for office in 1994, but none was elected.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
Brazilian nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) actively
investigate allegations of human rights violations and often
initiate legal proceedings. Several international NGO's either
maintain offices in Brazil or visit periodically. Government
entities, such as the Ministry of Justice's secretaries for
citizenship and human rights or the federal prosecutor's
office, respond readily to inquiries about human rights cases
and launch their own investigations.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
Discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, and
nationality is unconstitutional, yet women, blacks, and
indigenous people continued to experience discrimination.
Women
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on sex in
employment or salaries and provides for 120 days of paid
maternity leave. The provision against wage discrimination is
rarely enforced, however, and, as a reaction against the
maternity leave law, some employers seek sterilization
certificates from prospective employees or try to avoid hiring
women of childbearing age.
There is a high incidence of physical abuse against women, and
125 cities have established special police offices to deal with
crimes against women. One Rio de Janeiro office reported that
more women were submitting complaints, which increased from 80
per month in 1993 to 300 per month in 1994, and that 80 percent
of the complaints involved spousal abuse. Both Porto Alegre
and Sao Paulo, which has 120 police offices for women, found a
similar trend of more women reporting complaints. The women
generally asked police to talk to their husbands, rather than
taking legal action.
In rural areas, women have little recourse since there are no
specialized police offices available to them. Men who commit
crimes against women, including sexual assault and murder, are
unlikely to be brought to trial. Although the Supreme Court
struck down in 1991 the archaic concept of "defense of honor"
as a justification for wife murder, courts are still reluctant
to prosecute and convict men who attack their wives.
Children
Despite progressive laws to protect children and a growing
awareness of their plight through media and NGO campaigns, the
Government still has not been able to help millions of children
who fail to get an education, who work to survive, and who
suffer from the poverty afflicting their families. A 1994
report issued by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and
Statistics indicated that upwards of 2 million children between
10 and 13 years of age work, many of them together with their
parents, under conditions approximating forced labor or debt
bondage (see Section 6.d.). Many other children are found
begging on the streets of cities.
There are no reliable figures on the number of street children,
some of whom are homeless, but the majority of whom return home
at night. In Rio de Janeiro, an organization aiding street
children estimated that 30,000 frequent the streets by day, but
less than 1,000 probably sleep there. NGO's have made enough
shelters available for homeless children, but some prefer the
freedom and drugs that street life offers. In Sao Paulo, a
survey of street children published in March found 4,500 on the
streets by day and 900 at night, but the survey's methodology
has been criticized because surveyors worked from cars, without
walking into dark alleys. The Government response to the
plight of street children has been slow and ineffective. For
example, the Sao Paulo State Council for the Rights of Children
has never acquired meeting space nor have its government
members been named.
The report of a congressional investigating committee on child
prostitution, published in June, called for more targeted
social programs, changes in the Penal Code, and enforcement of
existing laws to protect children, noting police complicity in
child prostitution in most states. The committee concluded
that there was no evidence to back the claim that an estimated
500,000 minors are involved in prostitution in Brazil, but they
found appalling cases in all 10 states visited. In Rio de
Janeiro, a study cited by the committee found 500 girls between
the ages of 8 and 15 involved in prostitution, all of them glue
sniffers or drug users, most first raped at an early age.
Indigenous People
Brazil's approximately 250,000 Indians, who speak 170 different
languages, have a constitutional right to their traditional
lands. In practice, however, the authorities allow most
indigenous peoples only limited participation in decisions
affecting their lands, cultures, traditions, and the allocation
of natural resources. The 1988 Constitution charged the
Federal Government with demarcating 519 indigenous areas within
5 years, but the authorities have yet to complete more than
half the demarcations and entitling decrees. The lower house
of Congress passed a law in 1994 to implement constitutional
provisions with respect to Indian rights, but the Senate took
no action.
The Constitution provides Indians the exclusive use of the
soil, waters, and minerals found in their lands, subject to
congressional authorization. The legal regulations necessary
for economic exploitation are still pending before the Senate
as part of the Indian rights bill. Illegal mining, logging,
and ranching are a constant problem on Indian lands, as an
estimated 84 percent of them have been occupied by
non-Indians. Approximately 2,500 gold miners reentered the
Yanomami reserve in the state of Roraima in 1994, causing
another surge in the number of Indians dying from malaria and
other diseases. Malaria killed at least 26 Yanomami, in part
due to the Federal Government's failure to provide adequate
medical care for indigenous peoples.
The 1993 case against the Brazilian gold miners who killed 16
Yanomami on the Venezuelan side of the border remains mired in
legal problems. None of the accused miners are in custody.
Yanomami witnesses failed to recognize two of the accused, and
other witnesses have disappeared. Also in Roraima state, four
Macuxi Indians were murdered in the Raposa-Serra do Sol area,
which is still not demarcated because the order has been
stalled in the Justice Minister's office for more than a year.
The Catholic Church's Indigenist Council reported in 1993 that
more than 7,400 Indians were trapped into forced labor (see
section 6.c.). The majority were Guarani Indians in the state
of Mato Grosso do Sul. With 10 Guarani communities embroiled
in legal battles for their land, there were a few victories in
1994. The Sete Cerros Guarani won a federal Supreme Court
order to stop a local federal judge from granting ranchers the
right to occupy demarcated Guarani land. The regional appeals
court in Sao Paulo ruled in favor of the Jaguari community,
ordering FUNAI to restore the Guarani to their homeland and
evict the non-Indians. FUNAI carried out the order with police
assistance. In Para state, the Xikrim Indians won a court
injunction blocking two major logging firms from extracting
mahogany from their lands.
In the absence of government action, indigenous groups have
begun to take matters into their own hands. Xerente Indians in
Tocantins successfully stopped the state government from
building a road into their territory by seizing the site. (The
state government had ignored a federal injunction supporting
the Xerente.) In September Kayapo Indians decided to expel
2,000 gold miners from their territory, forcing the local
government and federal authorities to deal with the problem.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Although racial discrimination has been illegal since 1951,
darker-skinned Brazilians frequently encounter discrimination.
Most black Brazilians are found among the poorest sectors of
society. Even though nearly half of Brazil's population has
some African ancestry, very few senior officials in government
or the armed forces are black. There are few blacks in senior
private sector management positions. Black consciousness
organizations challenge the view that Brazil is a racial
democracy with equal treatment regardless of skin color. They
assert that racial discrimination becomes most evident when
blacks seek employment, housing, or educational opportunities.
The news magazine Veja reported that whites in the
predominantly black city of Salvador, Bahia, earn on average
three times more than blacks, while in the southern city of
Curitiba, whites earned 1.5 times the black average. The
magazine attributed the difference between the two cities to
better public education in the south. In many southern cities,
however, municipal governments try to prevent the migration of
poor families from the northeast, who are often identified by
their color. For example, city officials in Blumenau, Santa
Catarina state, routinely screen incoming bus passengers and
strongly encourage those who are nonwhite and without
employment to leave on the next bus.
Racism, as a crime, is difficult to prove in courts, although
both Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have designated special
police units to investigate it. When a black activist, Jane
Makebe, was told by a friend that she lost a job with a
cellular phone company because the owner did not want any black
employees, she filed a complaint with Sao Paulo's racial crimes
police. However, the witness, Makebe's friend, refused to
testify for fear of losing her job.
People with Disabilities
The 1988 Constitution contains several provisions for the
disabled, stipulating a minimum salary, educational
opportunities, and access to public buildings as well as public
transportation. Groups that work with the disabled, however,
report that state governments completely failed to meet the
legally mandated targets for educational opportunities and work
placement. The elimination of architectural barriers to the
disabled made little progress; the mayor's office in Recife
(Brazil's sixth largest city) conducted a survey of 30 public
buildings, finding none with adequate access for the
handicapped.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Labor Code provides for union representation of all workers
(excepting military, military police, and firemen) but imposes
a hierarchical, unitary system, funded by a mandatory "union
tax" on workers and employers. Under a restriction known as
"unicidade" (one per city), the Code prohibits multiple unions
of the same professional category in a given geographical
area. The 1988 Constitution freed workers to organize new
unions out of old ones without prior authorization from the
Government but retained other provisions of the old Code.
Elements of Brazil's labor movement and the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) criticize the
retention of unicidade and the union tax.
In practice, unicidade has proven less restrictive in recent
years, as more liberal interpretations of its restrictions
permitted new unions to form and--in many cases--to compete
with unions and federations that had already enjoyed official
recognition. The sole bureaucratic requirement for new unions
is to register with the Ministry of Labor which, by judicial
decision, is bound to receive and record their registration.
The primary source of continuing restriction is the system of
labor courts, which retain the right to review the registration
of new unions and to adjudicate conflicts over their
formation. Otherwise, unions are independent of the Government
and of political parties.
Approximately 20 to 30 percent of the Brazilian work force is
organized, with just over half of this number affiliated with
an independent labor central. Intimidation of rural labor
union organizers by landowners and their agents continues to be
a problem (see Section 1.a.).
The Constitution provides for the right to strike (excepting,
again, military, police, and firemen, but including other civil
servants). Enabling legislation passed in 1989 stipulates that
essential services must remain in operation during a strike and
that workers must notify employers at least 48 hours before
beginning a walkout. The Constitution prohibits government
interference in labor unions but provides that "abuse" of the
right to strike (such as not maintaining essential services, or
failure to end a strike after a labor court decision) is
punishable by law.
Federal police, federal customs inspectors, bankworkers,
autoworkers, oilworkers, teachers, and federal and state
government employees went on strike in 1994. Formerly, the
courts ruled virtually automatically that strikes were abusive;
in recent years, however, the courts have applied the law with
more discretion. The 1989 strike law prohibits dismissals or
the hiring of substitute workers during a strike, with certain
exceptions, provided the strike is not ruled abusive.
Although the law makes no provision for a central labor
organization, three major groups have emerged: the Sole
Workers Central (CUT), the General Workers Confederation (CGT),
and Forca Sindical. The centrals do not have legal standing to
represent professional categories of workers, but all three
centrals can effectively acquire such standing by affiliating
with existing statewide federations or nationwide
confederations, or by forming new federations and
confederations, challenging the old structure. The status of
the federations and confederations created since 1991 remains
in doubt, however, as a result of a challenge in the labor
courts by the old organizations.
Unions and centrals freely affiliate with international trade
union organizations.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The Constitution provides for the right to organize. With some
government assistance, businesses and unions are working to
expand and improve mechanisms of collective bargaining. The
scope of issues legally susceptible to collective bargaining is
narrow, however, and the labor court system exercises normative
powers with regard to the settlement of labor disputes, thus
discouraging direct negotiation. Existing law charges these
same courts, as well as the Labor Ministry, with mediation
responsibility in the preliminary stages of dispute
settlement. In many cases, free negotiations set wages; labor
court decisions set them in others. The International Labor
Organization (ILO) notes that important differences in wages
continue to exist to the detriment of women and blacks,
particularly in the rural sectors (see Section 5). Beginning
in 1990, the Federal Government attempted to control salary
increases in order to limit inflation. After introducing the
new currency unit and an economic stabilization plan in
mid-1994, the Government took an active role in auto industry
negotiations to minimize the negative effect of a wage
settlement on the economy.
The Constitution incorporates a provision from the Labor Code
which prohibits the dismissal of employees who are candidates
for or holders of union leadership positions. Nonetheless,
dismissals take place, with those dismissed required to resort
to a usually lengthy court process for relief. In general, the
authorities do not effectively enforce laws protecting union
members from discrimination. Union officials estimate that
only 5 percent of such cases reaching the labor court system
are resolved within days through a preliminary judicial order.
The other 95 percent generally take 5 to 10 years (and
sometimes more) to resolve.
Labor law applies equally in the free trade zones. However,
the unions in the Manaus free trade zone, like rural unions and
many unions in smaller cities, are relatively weaker vis-a-vis
industry as compared to unions in the major industrial centers.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Although the Constitution prohibits forced labor, there were
credible reports of forced labor in many parts of Brazil. The
Federal Government admits that existing enforcement resources
are inadequate. In 1994, the Catholic Church's Pastoral Land
Commission denounced 29 cases of forced labor, involving a
total of 19,940 workers, an increase from the 16,442 reported
in the previous year. The CPT reported cases of forced labor
in 12 different states, including many Guarani Indians in Mato
Grosso do Sul. Forced labor is common on farms producing
charcoal for use in the iron foundries and steel industries,
and in the sugar industry (see also Section 6.d.).
State and federal authorities have generally not conducted
timely investigations of reports of compulsory labor, claiming
lack of resources. Local police admit that overseers or owners
of many farms withhold pay from migrant laborers and use force
to retain and intimidate them, but the jurisdiction for such
violations falls to the Ministry of Labor, which has only 2,300
inspectors for all Brazil. Labor organizations alleged that in
mining and the rural economy thousands of workers, including
minors, are hired on the basis of false promises, subjected to
debt bondage, with violence used to retain or punish workers
who attempt to escape.
The Labor Ministry conducted investigations at the 29 alleged
sites of forced labor the CPT reported to the International
Labor Organization, and said it found no proof of forced
labor. The inspectors, however, did report violations of the
Labor Code and subhuman working conditions. The CPT noted that
the delay--in some cases years--in investigating these sites,
and the fact that employers were often alerted before the
arrival of inspectors, made confirmation of forced labor
unlikely, emphasizing the need for timely, surprise
inspections. In March the Labor Ministry issued regulations to
guide inspectors in documenting forced labor, but NGO's and
federal prosecutors report that enforcement remains a problem.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The minimum working age under the Constitution is 14 years,
except for apprentices. Judges can authorize employment for
children under 14 years of age when they feel it appropriate.
The authorities rarely enforce legal restrictions intended to
protect working minors under age 18, however, and the problem
is widespread. The law requires permission of the parents or
guardians for minors to work, and they must attend school
through the primary grades. The law bars all minors from night
work, work that constitutes a physical strain, and employment
in unhealthful, dangerous, or morally harmful conditions.
Despite these legal restrictions, official figures state that
nearly 3 million 10- to 14-year-old children (or 4.6 percent of
the work force) were employed. Many children are forced to
work along side their parents in cane fields, cutting hemp, or
feeding wood into charcoal ovens; frequent accidents, unhealthy
working conditions, and squalor are common in these cases. At
sawmills in the state of Rondonia, 20 teenagers lost fingers or
suffered other accidents but were not entitled to compensation
because they were employed illegally.
Independent shoe manufacturers in Franca (Sao Paulo state)
continue to employ thousands of children under age 14, in
violation of the law. Public prosecutors brought suit in
November against five major Franca shoe manufacturers for
illegally subcontracting work which led to the exploitation of
child labor. Sugar cane growers illegally employ children and
adolescents from 7 to 17 years of age, many cutting cane with
machetes. Specific reports of minors working illegally also
involve orange growers in Sao Paulo, street vendors in Rio de
Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and mining and logging industries in the
Amazon region.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcement of child
labor laws, but it has too few inspectors to do so
effectively. The widely held view that it is better for minors
to work than to be involved in street crime also hampers
enforcement efforts.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
Prior to July, the Government adjusted the national minimum
wage every month. With the midyear introduction of the
economic stabilization plan, it set the minimum wage at $83
(70 reals) per month. The Interunion Department for
Socioeconomic Studies and Statistics estimated that the minimum
wage is less than one-fifth that necessary (based on a standard
set by the 1988 Constitution) to support a family of four. The
most recently available national survey (for 1990) showed that
35 percent of economically active individuals, including minors
from 10 to 14 years of age, earned no more than the minimum
wage. Many workers, particularly outside the regulated economy
and in the northeast, reportedly earned less than the minimum
wage.
The 1988 Constitution limits the workweek to 44 hours and
specifies a weekly rest period of 24 consecutive hours,
preferably on Sundays. The Constitution expanded pay and
fringe benefits and established new protections for
agricultural and domestic workers; however, the Government does
not enforce all of these provisions.
Unsafe working conditions are prevalent throughout Brazil.
Incomplete figures from the Government's Social Security
Administration for workplace accidents and fatalities in 1993
showed 412,293 reported accidents; 3,110 resulted in fatalities
and 16,875 caused permanent disabilities. Fundacentro, part of
the Ministry of Labor, sets occupational health and safety
standards. However, the Ministry has insufficient resources
for adequate inspection and enforcement of these standards.
There were also credible allegations of corruption within the
enforcement system. If a worker has a problem in the workplace
and has trouble getting relief directly from his employer, he
or his union can file a claim with the regional labor court,
although in practice this is frequently a cumbersome,
protracted process.
The law requires employers to establish internal commissions
for accident prevention in workplaces. The law protects
employee members of these commissions from being fired for
commission activities. Such firings, however, do occur, and
legal recourse usually requires years for resolution.
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