Rio de Janeiro (20 June 2014) – Brazil’s Minister of the Secretariat for Policies to Promote Racial Equality (SEPPIR), Luiza Bairros, announced today during a press conference at the João Saldanha Open Media Centre (OMC) that the Brazilian government will create a new hotline, Disque Igualdade Racial (Racial Equality Hotline), to receive and refer race-crime reports. The hotline will be one of the first nationwide services of its kind in the world, and is slated to begin operations in the upcoming months. Callers will be able to reach the hotline by dialing 138 within the country. 

“All racism reports can be quickly received and referred to the competent authorities through the hotline,” said Minister Bairros. 

The government is also in talks with local authorities and representatives across different sectors of society to create an institutional network in which victims of racism can feel comfortable and protected when making reports, the Minister explained. The network includes the General Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office and civil society organizations, among others.

Minister Bairros was accompanied at the press conference by former football referee Márcio Chagas da Silva, who was subjected to racism-motivated attacks in early March while refereeing a match at the Rio Grande do Sul state championship. He recently retired from his position.

“Unfortunately, the last time I faced [racial discrimination] there was no such hotline,” said Chagas da Silva. “Whoever utters such slurs has no idea how much they hurt a human being.”

Racism has been more prominent on the Internet during the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014, according to the Minister. Although numbers are not yet available, Minister Bairros believes racism is not as prevalent as it has been globally in football in the past few months. She believes that this change is a reflection of the “Cup Without Racism” campaign launched by the Brazilian federal government in May. 

“Racist demonstrations on the pitch are happening in lesser numbers than expected, and this is a result of our campaign,” she said. 

The Minister believes the World Cup will show the world the racial diversity of Brazil, and that images depicting the country’s mix of races are likely to become more frequent from now until the end of the event. “The World Cup is important because it gathers people from different cultures, different historical backgrounds and even with different physical features.” 

Minister Bairros noted that society is changing, and that occurrences of discrimination are becoming more public because they are no longer seen as something natural. “The increased visibility of these events is an indicator of the maturity of our democracy.”

Authorities on the subject believe that the racism seen in football mirrors the daily racial attacks seen off the pitch by the more than 50.7 percent of Brazilians who declared themselves blacks or mixed-race in the 2010 Census conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). 

In recent months, SEPPIR has worked closely with football authorities, referees and organized fan groups to prevent episodes of racism and raise awareness. One of the goals is to publicize that in Brazil racism is a crime that does not have a statute of limitations and is not subject to bail, with penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment for one to five years (as prescribed by Law 7,716/89). 

In addition to the new hotline, Brazil currently has a National Racial Equality Ombudsman, who has received 1,545 reports of racism since 2011, and offers the “100” hotline to receive any reports of discrimination, including homophobia, the Minister said.  

The creation of the Disque Igualdade Racial is another forward-looking initiative by the Brazilian government, which was the first in the world to create a Secretariat at the highest level of federal administration (with Ministry status) to address racism. Brazil was also the first country in the world to institutionalize the discussion of racial equality policies and is considered an international model in the area. 

The SEPPIR was created in 2003 to formulate and coordinate affirmative action policies, promote racial equality and ensure the rights of the black population. The Brazilian National Congress approved the Racial Equality Statute in 2010, and in recent years, has also passed laws that create quotas for black people in federal universities, federal technical secondary education institutions and public service. 

The Quota Law for federal universities, established in 2012, expanded the presence of black citizens in Brazil’s public higher education system. According to a survey conducted by the Institute of Social and Political Studies (IESP) of the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), the number of vacancies reserved for black, mixed-race and indigenous Brazilians rose by 225 percent between 2012 and 2014; the total number of vacancies increased from 13,392 in 2012 to 43,613 in 2014.  

For more information, visit:
www.copa2014.gov.br/cam (Português)
www.copa2014.gov.br/en/cam (English)

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