30th
session of the Human Rights Council
Geneva, 14 September – 2 October 2015
Item 3: General
Debate following the High Commissioner Thematic Reports.
Mr. President,
In Brazil, articles 23 of the 1940 Penal Code and
228 of the 1988 Federal Constitution set the age of criminal majority for
children and adolescents to 18. Notwithstanding, the constitutional amendment
171/1993 adopted twice in July and August 2015 by the Chamber of
Representatives aims at reducing the age from 18 to 16, which allows for treatment
of children under adults regime, either in court or while in detention.
This ongoing legislative reform process is incompatible
with UN recommendations to the country and a step backwards from Brazil’s
national and international commitments.
In addition, it contributes to further stigmatizing adolescents as criminals while
playing with negative prejudice of the public opinion towards children in
conflict with the law.
The
escalation of violence and the number of children and adolescents in conflict
with the law are the result of multiple factors, including school drop-out and high
rate of unemployment among young people, families’ desegregations, extreme
poverty of the majority of the population, especially Afro descendants and
indigenous people, leading to multifaceted violence as well as difficulties in
accessing economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights yet guaranteed
as a matter of priority to children and adolescents by article 227 of the
Constitution.
If the amendment is endorsed by the Senate, its
immediate consequences will be over-incarceration and overcrowding risks.
Indeed, applying the adult
justice regime to children and adolescents aged 16-18 will increase prison
population as the reform aims at establishing a repressive approach to
supposedly deter from offence commission and maintain adolescents offenders in
detention. On the contrary, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2013[1]
and the Special Rapporteur on Torture during his August 2015 in situ visit to Brazil[2]
have highlighted how overcrowding increases the
level of violence, torture, inhuman and degrading treatments, jeopardizes children’s
mental and physical health, integrity and security, and results
in inhumane sanitary conditions. Overcrowding conditions also deny access to
essential services such as food, medical care, as well as opportunities for
visits, and ultimately may compromise reintegration efforts.
Our organizations recommend that Brazil:
- - Ends the ongoing constitutional reform
process aiming at lowering the age of
criminal majority for children and adolescents;
-
Tackles
the root-causes of insecurity and violence against children and adolescents as
well as their involvement in criminal activities by providing inter alia alternative care to children
and adolescents deprived of family protection, and implements programs
fostering access to education for all children, effective support to families,
and vocational training for adolescents.
-
Strengthens and extends the implementation
of Law 12.594/2012 on the Sistema
Nacional de Atendimento Socioeducativo (SINASE) providing for a restorative
justice approach that peacefully settles cases between victims and offenders,
families and communities in order to heal feelings, restore relationships, and
work on responsibility and redress.
Thank
you Mr. President.
[1] A/HRC/27/48/Add.3
(2013), §§ 84-100 & 120-128.
[2] See press release from Juan Ernesto Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment, August 2015.
hrc30_brazil_jointstatement.pdf
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