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Brazil: Information on relations between the black population and government or police authorities

According to the attached reports, blacks in Brazil -who make up about half the country's population- are victims of racism and have limited political rights and influence, despite the legal banning of racism. The articles provide different views on the problem. They include:

-Jackson inspires Brazil's blacks to struggle for political rights", in The Ottawa Citizen, 15 September 1988;

-"Blacks battle `subtle' racism", in The Christian Science Monitor, 9-15 May 1988;

-"Brazil's blacks feel prejudice 100 years after slavery's end", The New York Times, 14 May 1988 (2 pages);

-"Improving Brazilian social welfare proves far easier said than done", in The New York Times, 9 August 1988;

-"In the fight for a charter, war clubs have a place", 4 August 1988.

A 1987 report states:

"Discrimination on the basis of race is illegal. Nevertheless, non-whites remain overwhelmingly poor, their education, health, housing, job opportunities and earnings are usually below the national average. At the beginning of 1986 of the 150,000 juveniles being held under a court order, 95% were non-whites. The average wage level of browns was 45% that of whites, that of blacks only, 35%. Cabinet, senior civil servants, the diplomatic corps and the top military commands are staffed almost entirely by whites." [ "The Colours of Brazil", in The Economist, 10 May 1986.]

Regarding police forces and related authorities in Brazil, please find attached pages 8-12 of Brazil: Authorized violence in rural areas, (London: Amnesty International, September 1988) and the introduction of Police Abuse in Brazil, (Washington, D.C.: Americas Watch, December 1987), pp. 1-7.

For comments on the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, (Washington: U.S. Department of State, 1989), which the requester has been referred to by the regional Documentation Centre, please consult at the Montreal IRBDC the Critique: Review of the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, (Washington: Human Rights Watch, July 1989) section on Brazil.