Brazil: Impunity and the law: the killing of street children in Rio de Janeiro State

This report summarizes the findings of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to Investigate the Extermination of Children and Adolescents in Rio de Janeiro State, presented in September 1991. Statistics relating to killing of street children are provided. Those responsible for the killings are identified as death squads, in many cases involving police and military personnel, usually hired by local businesses to deal with petty crime. Specific cases mentioned include: the “disappearance” of 11 people, six of them minors, abducted from a farm in Mage on 26 July 1990 and death threats to their mothers; the killing of Aldenir Calisto and Magno Fernando Mendes; intimidation of Marco Antonio Costa Silva. The Statute of the Child and Adolescent is commented on in Appendix 4.

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