In normal times around 5.500 streetchildren can be found in Rio, nationwide their number is estimated at 24.000. In many cases the children were treated like criminals and were detained without reasonable suspicion or legal protection. At least they were held in special institutions for children or juvenile detention centers as long as they were under 18. But this could change in future, making things even worse as they are already now.
Citing Br. Raymundo Rabelo de Mesquita SDB, eminent Brazilian expert for children’s rights who regularly visits young people detained in juvenile detention centers, Jugend Eine Welt criticized that the Brazilian National Congress discussed again a proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 recently – even it came to no solution yet. “This would only combat symptoms and punish young people who are without any perspectives in life. Most of them only committed crimes to survive,” says Fr. Mesquita. “We need more schools here, not more prisons!”
More than 18.000 young people were held in the severly overcrowded juvenile detention facilities already in 2015. The same year, the “Inspetoria São João Bosco” of the Salesians addressed an open letter to members of parliament, appealing to them to defend children’s rights as enshrined in the Constitution and to reject the proposed lowering of the age of criminal responsibility. Also hundreds of students in several Brazilian cities showed solidarity with the young delinquents and protested against the proposed bill.
Jugend Eine Welt welcomes the new Brazilian campaign “Respect Protect Ensure – Everyone together fort he rights of children and adolescents” which is organized during the Olympic Games and will hopefully continue afterwards as well. With the help of more than 100 volunteers the campaign wants to inform the population and tourists about the most frequent violations of the rights of children and adolescent in Brazil – including violations of the rights of streetchildren.
“Respect Protect Ensure“ is also part of “Projeto Rio 2016” about which Fr. Raymundo Mesquita said “The project is realized in contination of a campaign which started already in advance of Worldcup in 2014 and which then was only orgnized about the issue of sexual exploitation of children”.
