Brazilian Street Children and the

1
Massacre at Candelaria

• Brazilian Street Children and the
• Death Squads
  

2
Background

• 43 of land area owned by
• 1 of population
• More than 18 are illiterate, and
• 35 of children 7-15 are not en-
• rolled in school
• Largest black population outside
• of Africa 46 of population are
• Afro-Brazilians
• Massive influx of migrants from rural to urban
  areas

3
Life on the Streets

• 7-17 million children
• ages 5-18 live and/or work
• on the street
• Most are black males
• Some sell candy or wash
• cars others beg
• Many sniff glue

4
Causal Factors

• Neglect and abuse at home
• Unfavorable neighborhood
• environments
• Macroeconomic, social and
• political causal factors
• The process of democratization, in the absence of
  economic and social justice

5
On the Streets or Of the Streets

• On the streets Working in
• the streets to supplement
• the family income, but
• living at home
• Of the streets Children
• who have severed family ties and live full-time
  in the streets, often engaging in illegal
  activities in order to survive

6
Working Children" and Street Children
Source UNICEF, Regional Office for Latin
America, Bogata, 1997

• Country Working Children Street Children
• Argentina 2.35 million 20,000
• Bolivia 72,000 200
• Brazil 7.4 million 8 million
• Costa Rica 53,000 5,300
• Ecuador 1 million 4,000
• El Salvador 231,000 10,000
• Guatemala 1.62 million 1,000
• Haiti 120,000 10,000
• Honduras 275,000 800
• Mexico 10 million 250,00

7
The Death Squads

• Most of Brazils street
• children expect to be
• killed before they are
• 18
• Death squads are
• backed by citizen groups and commercial
• establishments

8

• Between 1988-1990
• 4,611 street
• children were
• murdered
• In 1999, 20 of
• homicides
• committed by the police were against
• minors
• 4-5 street children are murdered each day

9
Candelaria July 25, 1993

• 5 off-duty policemen
• fired on a group of 50
• sleeping children
• At least 2 died in their
• sleep, seven more were
• hunted down and shot
• point blank in the head or back

10

• Eight others were injured
• Public praise for clean-up
• Many of these 13-year-old kids have killed.
  They deserve to die.
• --23-year-old worker in Rio de Janeiro

11
Consequences

• International headlines, worldwide protest
• Investigative Commission slowed when two of its
  members were slain by unidentified gunmen
• Three members of military police were arrested
• One convicted and sentenced to 309 years

12
Interventive Strategies

• Correctional approach
• FUNABEM (National Foundation For Child Welfare)
• Rehabilitative approach
• Emphasis on children as victims of poverty and
  neglect
• Outreach strategies
• Provision of counseling, education and advocacy
  services by outreach workers
• Preventive outlook
• Attempt to address underlying problems -- UNICEF

13
The Future

• Denial they have far
• more freedom than we do,
• being unrestricted by social
• pressures, by time at all,
• and they are facing reality
• every moment, appreciating
• every little detail about living,
• and certainly seem a hundred
• years older in experience.
• --British tourist to
  Brazil