06/24/2024 – 22:14
A delegation from the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) arrived this Monday (24) in Rio de Janeiro and will listen to victims, authorities and experts on neo-Nazism in Brazil in the coming days. The visit schedule extends until Friday (28). Activities are planned in the capital of Rio de Janeiro and Niterói. The topic had already motivated another trip in April of this year, to Santa Catarina. Other states should also be visited.
Created by Federal Law 12,986/2014, the CNDH must promote and defend human rights in the country through preventive, protective and reparative actions. Although it is linked to the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship, it operates autonomously. Of the 22 counselors, 11 are appointed by different bodies and institutions of the Public Power and another 11 are representatives of civil society, elected at a national meeting called by public notice.
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For a few months now, the CNDH has been carrying out work to investigate the growth of neo-Nazi cells in the country. A special report was created on the topic. It is coordinated by counselor Carlos Nicodemos. Last month, in an interview with Brazil Agencyhe criticized the lack of specific policies to combat neo-Nazism in Brazil.
“This is always treated in a subcategorized way, in a set of other forms of violence. It is necessary to rethink the control mechanisms, not only on the part of the Judiciary, but also on the part of the Executive Branch itself, in the field of education, culture, among other measures,” he said.
During the visit to Rio de Janeiro, agendas are planned with police and judicial authorities to collect data and information. The capital will host two public hearings. One will be at the Rio de Janeiro section of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB-RJ), in the center, and another at the Holocaust Memorial, in the south zone. In Niterói, there will be a public hearing at the City Council.
Furthermore, on Tuesday afternoon (25), an academic panel will be held in conjunction with the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). Three experts will be heard. The first of them will be historian Francisco Carlos Teixeira, professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), who studies fascist methods. There will also be tables with two UFF researchers: historians Márcia Carneiro, a specialist in integralism and its aspects, and Priscilla Mendes, who investigates the transnational connections between the Brazilian extreme right and neo-Nazism.
Report
The CNDH’s concerns about the growth of neo-Nazi groups in Brazil over the last few years have even been taken to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN). A preliminary report, delivered in April, classified the current scenario as “alarming”. Data was gathered involving Federal Police inquiries and complaints received and processed by the National Cyber Crime Center, a channel maintained by the non-governmental organization SaferNet with the support of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF).
The studies of anthropologist Adriana Dias, passed away last year, were also mentioned in the report. The researcher found that neo-Nazi group cells grew 270.6% in Brazil, in the period between January 2019 and May 2021, spreading across all regions of the country. This phenomenon would have been driven by the spread of hate speech and extremist narratives. Without punishment, they spread more easily. According to the research, at the beginning of 2022, there were more than 530 extremist groups in the country. Its participants share hatred against feminists, Jews, black people and the LGBTQIAP+ population.
In addition to the data, the report mentioned some specific cases in which artifacts linked to Nazism were seized, such as uniforms, weapons, flags and articles and decorative pieces with images and symbols with Hitler’s face and the swastika. The CNDH also draws attention to the growth of attacks on schools, remembering that in different incidents the attacker used neo-Nazi symbolism. For example, the episode that occurred in December 2022 is cited, when a 16-year-old student killed four people in schools in Aracruz (ES). He wore a military uniform accompanied by an armband with a Nazi symbol.
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