Marçal de Souza Tupã Center for the Defense of Citizenship and Human Rights – I

Founded in 1987, the organization is composed of people from different professional and social fields in order to promote human, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. For this, the center has worked on the intervention in specific cases in which the victims of violations can be rescued, and provoking action by the states’ authorities to protect rights.

Project

The project aims to combat violence and torture in the Juvenile Education and Detention Units (Unei) in Mato Grosso do Sul

The idea is to develop training courses through a qualified legal advice service with representatives from the system of protection of children and adolescents’ rights, community agents and popular and social movements. In parallel, workshops on the ECA – Statute for Children and Adolescents will be conducted with education agents from the Uneis. The rate of reported violence in the last two years was taken into account in the choice of the participating units.

With its work, the group aims to stimulate the struggle for the protection of rights, as well as encourage the mobilization of integrated actions by governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Context

The big socio-economic inequalities, combined with the fact that the state of Mato Grosso do Sul borders with two other countries – Bolivia and Paraguay – makes the young people and children leave their studies early to dedicate themselves to drug trafficking. Many of these adolescents end up being arrested and sent to the Uneis by the Judiciary. Improving the fulfillment of socio-educational measures is preventing the recidivism of offences and offering a new future to these boys and girls.