Brazil's subcommission on pedophilia and child pornography at the Secretatiat of Human Rights is drawing up a national plan to deal with the problem of Internet pedophilia.
"We need specific policies so we can coordinate action by the government and civil society to control this problem," says Alexandre Reis, who coordinates the subcommission.
One proposal under study is a plan to improve the notification of denouncements so more reliable statistics on the problem of sexual abuse of minors can be obtained.
The subcommission consists of representatives of the government, civil society and international organizations.
"Youth struggle - for an end to impunity" was the theme of this year's commemoration of the National Day to Combat the Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children and Adolescents.
The coordinator of the National Committee to Confront Violence against Children and Adolescents, Neide Castanha, considers it possible to eliminate sexual exploitation.
But for this to occur, she says, it is necessary to overcome not only impunity but also social inequality and exclusion. "It is of no avail to call a halt to impunity and continue to produce and reproduce boys and girls in conditions vulnerable to acceptance of the sex trade, that is, to offer their bodies as a condition of their survival," she affirmed.
In May, Brazil's National Congress received the file "Araceli Never Again - 30 Years of Impunity in Brazil," containing cases that have gone unpunished since 1973 of sexual violence against children and adolescents.
The publication was produced, with the Committee's support, by the National Association of Child and Adolescent Protection Centers (Anced).
According to the president of the Association, Renato Roseno, it is not a study but, rather, a warning about the existence of impunity, with suggestions on how to combat this type of crime. "Impunity is the rule, not the exception," he asserted.
The title of the file is a reference to an 8-year old girl, Araceli Santos, who was a kidnap, rape, and murder victim 31 years ago, in Vitória, Espírito Santo.
In 2000, on May 18, the anniversary of her death, the National Day to Combat the Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children and Adolescents was established by law.
One of the Association's suggestions is to update the legislation dealing with sexual crimes. The legislation dates back to the 1930's.
"Sexual crimes are currently grouped together as crimes against public morals. This is absurd, because they are crimes against human dignity," Roseno emphasized.
He also suggests that the police and the judicial system be trained to handle crimes that involve sexual violence. "If a person is not well received, he or she will be victimized again," he said.
He goes so far as to propose the creation of special courts to treat cases of sexual exploitation and abuse of children and adolescents.
Sexual violence against children and adolescents can take various forms. The most common are sexual abuse within the family itself and sexual exploitation for commercial purposes, such as prostitution, pornography, and trafficking.
When sexual violence against children and adolescents is suspected, it can be reported to police stations, Tutelary Councils, or Courts for Children and Youth. The Tutelary Councils visit the families, notify them, and analyze the background of each case.
If the accusation is confirmed, the Council passes it along to the Public Prosecutor's Office. The Courts for Children and Youth can receive denunciations in municipalities that don't have Tutelary Councils.
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention.
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area.
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy.
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil.
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms.
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis.
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking.
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse.
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.