MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Violence against children in Brazilian Amazon worse than elsewhere in the country

According to the Health Ministry, 94 violent deaths of indigenous children and adolescents were recorded in the Legal Amazon in the 2021-2023 period

A report released Thursday by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety (FBSP) showed that Children and adolescents in the Legal Amazon were exposed to different types of violence with relevant particularities compared to the rest of the South American country.

In the study, based on data from 2021 to 2023, six of the ten Brazilian states with the highest rates of sexual violence against children and adolescents were in the Legal Amazon. During this period, the region recorded more than 31,000 cases of rape with victims up to 19 years of age, in addition to almost 3,000 intentional violent deaths in the same age group, the Violence against Children and Adolescents in the Amazon research found.

Those States were Rondônia (with a rate of 234.2 cases per 100,000 children and adolescents), Roraima (with a rate of 228.7), Mato Grosso (188.0), Pará (174.8), Tocantins (174.2), and Acre (163.7).

In the region, the rate of rape of children and adolescents was higher in municipalities located up to 150 kilometers from the Brazilian border (with a rate of 166.5 per 100,000 boys and girls) than in non-border cities (136.8).

The report was based on data from state public security departments across the country. The Legal Amazon, which covers more than 700 municipalities in nine states of the Amazon biome, has higher rates of sexual violence than the rest of the country, with 141.3 cases reported per 100,000 children and adolescents in 2023, 21.4% above the national average of 116.4. While Brazil saw a 12.5% increase in reports of rape and rape of vulnerable individuals from 2021 to 2022, the increase in the Amazon region was 26.4%.

According to UNICEF's Protection from Violence Officer Nayana Lorena da Silva, the differences represented both a higher number of victims in the Amazon and a higher percentage of cases in the region. In her view, children and adolescents in the Legal Amazon were extremely exposed to different types of violence.

“We live with unacceptable levels of violence against children and adolescents. In cases of rape, there is significant underreporting. Ethnic and racial inequalities and social vulnerability in the region, which has territorial conflicts, a large border area, and a high incidence of environmental crimes, create a complex scenario for guaranteeing children's rights, which must be addressed to ensure the protection of every child and adolescent,” she said.

According to Cauê Martins, a researcher at the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, the findings reinforce the importance of considering the specific characteristics of the region: rates of intentional violent deaths in urban municipalities in the Amazon were 31.9% higher than in urban centers in the rest of the country.

Regarding intentional homicide, femicide, robbery followed by death, bodily injury followed by death, and deaths resulting from police intervention, the Legal Amazon also stood out against the rest of Brazil. Despite a slight drop in the number of deaths of children and adolescents between 2021 and 2023 (with 1,076 deaths in 2021 and 911 two years later), adolescents and young people aged 15 to 19 living in urban centers in the region were 27% more vulnerable to lethal violence than other Brazilian adolescents in the same age group.

Lethal and sexual violence affect white, black, and indigenous boys and girls differently. Among rape victims in the Amazon, between 2021 and 2023, 81% were black and brown, and 2.6% were indigenous. The rate among black people was 45.8 cases per 100,000 children and adolescents, higher than among white people, which was 32.7. In the rest of Brazil, the highest incidence of sexual violence was recorded among white boys and girls.

Concerning violent deaths, black children and adolescents in the Legal Amazon were three times more exposed to this type of violence than whites, including deaths resulting from police intervention. In the latter case, 91.8% of the victims were black, while 7.9% were white and 0.3% were indigenous. In 2023 alone, the rate of black children and adolescents killed by security forces in the region was three times higher than the rate among whites (1.5 versus 0.5, respectively, per 100,000).

These inequalities also impact indigenous boys and girls. According to the Health Ministry, 94 violent deaths of indigenous children and adolescents were recorded in the Legal Amazon in the 2021-2023 period. In addition, reports of sexual violence against indigenous children grew even more than the regional average, doubling between 2021 and 2023 (an increase of 151%).

The Amazon region had 10,125 reported cases of abuse against boys and girls between 2021 and 2023, and in the latter year, it also recorded a slightly higher incidence rate (52.9 per 100,000 children and adolescents) than the rest of Brazil (which was 52 per 100,000). In 2021 and 2022, the Amazon had lower numbers than the national average.

In 2023, abuse was commonly committed by a family member (94.7%), inside the home (67.6%), and the victims were generally girls (52.1%), between 5 and 9 years of age (35.2%), and black (78.9%).

In this scenario, UNICEF and the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety warned of the need for governments and society as a whole to address the different types of violence against boys and girls in the Legal Amazon and throughout Brazil. To this end, they issued a series of recommendations, including a tailored violence analysis and interventions to the unique social and geographic realities, while enhancing police and health system records, and investing in evidence-based monitoring.

Other suggestions were to train child-focused professionals—especially for work with indigenous communities, and increase accountability for police use of force, especially regarding child fatalities.

Authorities should also tackle structural racism and gender norms that obstruct child protection, as well as reinforce environmental protection and crack down on illegal activities.

The study collected data through requests made under the Access to Information Act to the 27 state secretariats of Public Security and/or Social Defense in Brazil. In the case of lethal and sexual violence against indigenous children, Health Ministry figures were used, due to the greater amount of information on the race/ethnicity of victims in the agency's database, specifically its Mortality Information System (SIM) for intentional violent deaths and the Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN) for cases of sexual violence.

Since 2023, the federal government has been combating the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in the Amazon region through the Amazon Plan: Security and Sovereignty. The Human Rights and Justice Ministries are working together on these actions.

Operation Safe Paths, which combats all types of violence against children and adolescents in the country, recorded the arrest of 472 adults and the apprehension of 147 minors under the age of 18, in addition to the rescue of 80 children and adolescents between April 30 and May 15 of this year.

More than 45,000 security agents participated in the operation in 421 municipalities, which involved the inspection of more than 8,000 locations and the questioning of more than 300,000 suspects. During this period, the operation assisted 2,200 victims. Police seized 152 items related to child pornography. (Source: Agencia Brasil)