Torture in Brazilian Juvenile Detention Centres
In Brazil, torture and other forms of ill-treatment of children in socioeducative units are widespread. Maria Clara D’Ávila is a lawyer at the Brazil-based organisation GAJOP, The Office of Legal Advice to Popular Organizations, OMCT's partner in our Child Protection against Torture project. As today marks the United Nations’ World Children’s Day, she recounts some of the detention conditions that she has witnessed and shares her hopes for the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s review of Brazil next year.
What are the detention conditions for children and teenagers in these centres?
These detention facilities are supposed to be educational measures for children who have committed a crime, so that they can do better in the future. But this is not what is going on. The system is punitive and repressive, rather than oriented towards rehabilitation. The detention conditions include lack of water and food. Many children only have access to water twice a day for maybe three minutes, and food lacks any kind of nutritional value. In some places, they have to eat with their hands. The centers and cells are also unsanitary and dirty. Children don't have mattresses, there are rats in the cells.... They also don't have easy access to health care if anything happens to them. These centers are not appropriate for children.
Have you witnessed torture of children during your visits?
We often see children with marks and burns on their bodies. We see other forms of torture, like invasive body searches, unnecessary use of handcuffs, children being sent to solitary confinement for very long periods of time. Children spend around 22 or even 24 hours a day in their cells. We have witnessed all kinds of humiliation, threats, children having suicidal thoughts or trying to commit suicide. There are all sorts of systematic violence going on in these places.
What kind of offences have these children committed?
Brazilian society often thinks that these boys and girls have committed really violent crimes and should be locked up, but this is not true. Most of them are there for non-violent offences like robbery or drug-related offences, in conditions where they have often been exploited. Most of them are homeless children and instead of receiving protection from the state, they are sent to these places where they are in confinement and they are told they are criminals, treated like adults, not like children who deserve protection and care.
Do they have access to education?
Access to education is very limited. Children often get transferred from one place to another and in the meantime, they can spend two to three months without going to school. Even when they do go to school, their study options are limited. They only study for a few hours, then are locked up for the rest of the day. They don't get to think about their future because they are seen as criminals who don’t have one.
Are the guards or the administration kept accountable?
It's difficult to guarantee accountability in Brazil. We face a lot of obstacles when going forward with complaints that we have received. The children are afraid of retaliation if they do complain, as they have to remain guarded by their abusers. When they have marks on their bodies, they don't last long, they would have to immediately get checked before it’s too late, as their word is not trusted. They are not taken seriously by the judges, as they are not seen as people who deserve any kind of rights.
When we do manage to file complaints of violations, they rarely result in accountability of agents and victims don't get any protection. Brazilian higher authorities really don't believe that these violations occur, even when we have proof of torture, because the word of children is not trusted, the justice system is not used to monitoring the public agents that work in these places.
We have heard of militarization of those centers. Can you explain what that is?
A very common violation is when detention guards call for military interventions inside the units. If there is any situation where they want harsher punishment, they call for the military police, who increases the violence. They use weapons that are not allowed against the children. It’s very difficult to prove these kinds of violations as well because the military police has a lot of credibility in front of the judges and the justice system. Also, these military interventions are not regulated. We don't have laws on this. They can happen any time, for any reason.
What do you expect from the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s review of Brazil?
First, we want the recognition that these violations are child rights violations. We want these children to be seen as such and as human beings, because they are too often dehumanized. Second, we want to alert the government and the authorities of these violations so they can take preventative measures. We also want to alert of the threat of setbacks in our legislations, such as the constant attempt to reduce the criminal age so children can be sent to adult prisons early in their lives. We want the system to be improved, to actually work towards education and not as punishment and humiliation. We need to change how the system works so it can act to protect children and their rights instead of violating them.