Rio de Janeiro (13 June 2014) – The Brazilian federal government, in partnership with state and municipal governments and the private sector, is intensifying specific programs to protect Brazilian children and adolescents during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. One line of action is to facilitate complaints of violence and abuse against young people in situations of risk with the Proteja Brasil (Protect Brazil) mobile application, and to support the staff at Brazil’s Disque 100 Human Rights Hotline. Brazil has become the first country in the world to use a mobile application to protect children and adolescents.

The program is already showing results, according to comments made by Minister of the Secretariat for Human Rights (SDH), Ideli Salvatti, at a press conference held in the João Saldanha Open Media Centre (OMC) in Rio de Janeiro on Friday 13 June. The Minister said that the public authority is integrated and prepared to confront any and every complaint and risk situation for this young segment of the population, combining the efforts of federal, state and municipal governments during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. As in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the various sectors involved are working together with these integrated teams, she announced.

Minister Salvatti highlighted the Proteja Brasil application, the first project of its kind in the world, which was developed in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to facilitate the processing of denunciations related to infant exploitation.

Proteja Brasil is available for free in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Not only does it enable users to forward complaints of rights violations of children and adolescents, it also offers geo-referenced information on the closest protection service to the user.

Gary Stahl, UNICEF Representative to Brazil, expects that the use of the application will intensify during the World Cup, noting that Brazil is ranked fourth in the world in terms of countries with smartphone owners (approximately 170 million).

The program, coordinated by Brazil’s Secretariat for Human Rights, has four areas of action. The first is strengthening the system of guaranteeing rights, comprised of children’s courts, child protection councils, police stations and federal government centers of social assistance (CRAS and CREAS). Mobile teams are working in an integrated fashion across the 12 host cities of the World Cup. Since last year, 1,117 units have received automobiles, computers, printers, refrigerators and drinking fountains to guarantee full-time service. According to Minister Ideli Salvatti, perfecting the whole system will be one of the main legacies that remain after the World Cup for the population.

The second area of action has strengthened the Denunciation Notification System by means of the Human Rights Hotline (Disque  100), where the staff has been increased by 25 percent during the World Cup. The headquarters works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The third area of action refers to a legislative framework effort, in which the Congress of the Law of Heinous Crime, has included sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in this category.  Interministerial Directive 876/14 bars entry into the country of people being investigated or condemned for pedophilia.  Thanks to this directive, a citizen of the United States condemned for pedophilia was prevented from entering Brazil at Galeão airport in Rio de Janeiro last Saturday (7 June 2014), said the Minister.

The fourth area of action focuses on repression activities, including the Protect Brazil Operation undertaken by the federal police on 21 May, which resulted in 40 search and arrest warrants and the imprisonment of eight persons involved in the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.

The program also includes decentralized activities in federal, state and municipal agencies in the host cities. This includes awareness raising actions such as partnerships with airline companies, bars and hotels to spread the message that sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in Brazil is a crime, with penalties that include imprisonment or deportation.

Brazil regularly hosts major events, said the Minister while speaking of the importance of reinforcing defense mechanisms in the areas of human rights. Carnival, for instance, sees more than double the number of tourists (6.6 million) than the World Cup (3.1 million). The Minister hopes that 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil becomes truly an event that brings people together, with ever-stronger bonds of respect and dignity.

Accreditation to use the Open Media Centre can be done at the Portal da Copa.

For additional information, please visit:
www.copa2014.gov.br/cam (Portuguese)
www.copa2014.gov.br/en/cam (English)