Activists are sounding the alarm about police violence in the Brazilian state of Bahia, after new statistics showed more children and young people are killed by security forces in the state than anywhere else in the country.
New statistics show that 289 people under the age of 19 were killed by police in Bahia state last year, up from 242 in 2022. Report According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Brazilian Public Safety Forum.
Figures reveal that one in three child murder victims in Bahia state last year was killed by police.
Bahia is Brazil’s fourth-most populous state and the country’s black cultural heartland. For the past 17 years it has been ruled by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party (PT).
The new figures will put further pressure on a party that has failed to stop both police killings and a rise in general violence.
Bahia has the second-highest rate per 100,000 people after the Amazon state of Amapá, but had the highest total number of police killings last year.
“Bahia is the clearest example of how the left has no plan for public security,” said Pablo Nunez, a political scientist and coordinator at the Center for Security and Civil Rights Studies.
“Indeed, the security policies being implemented in the state of Bahia are consistent with all the most harmful experiences we have seen in recent years from so-called far-right governments,” he added.
In 2022, the Bahia state police became the most violent police force in the country, taking over the position historically held by Rio de Janeiro.
Bahia Police killings to increase by 313% between 2015 and 2022This was during the time of Governor Rui Costa, a prominent figure in the PT who later became one of Lula’s chiefs of staff and top ministers.
Samira Bueno, secretary general of the Public Safety Forum, said the figures suggested police in Bahia were accustomed to using excessive force.
The new report does not detail the racial profile of victims by state, but 2022 Survey The research Nunes compiled showed that 94.76% of police victims, both adults and youth, were black, a disproportionately high percentage given the state’s population, which is 80% black.
“Police are a very violent institution that exacerbates violence in poor communities and specifically targets black boys and young men,” Nunes said.
Black children and youth are also disproportionately represented among victims of violence nationwide, with Black boys being 4.4 times more likely to be murdered than white boys.
“Race is a determining factor in mortality outcomes across all age groups,” said Ana Carolina Fonseca, protection officer at UNICEF Brazil, noting that disparities exist even among the youngest members of society: 64.3 percent of homicide victims under the age of four were black.
“There is a process of denial of rights for black people in Brazil that starts in childhood, with exclusion from schools and the entire care system, and is repeated in violence,” she said.
The survey also found shocking data on sexual violence, which continues to increase significantly across the country. Rape cases increased from 53,906 in 2022 to 63,430 last year. The majority of victims were girls (87.3%).
“These are certainly under-reported cases,” Bueno said. Recent Research They found that only 8.5% of cases were reported to authorities.
“There are many reasons why people don’t report: fear, embarrassment or because victims often don’t realise they are experiencing violence. Bringing this issue into the public debate is the first step towards addressing the problem of under-reporting and developing strategies to effectively change this reality.”
