State has 94 human rights defenders under protection; Mother Bernadette was shot dead at home
The government of Bahia is reviewing all the protocols for the protection of human rights defenders, after the murder of quilombola leader Bernadete Pacífico, on Thursday night (17.Aug). The mother of saint was killed indoors at Quilombo Pitanga dos Palmares, in the municipality of Simões Filho (BA).
According to Bahia’s Secretary of Justice and Human Rights, Felipe Freitas, teams from the state government and the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship are working together to discuss with public security agencies the improvement of protection programs.
“The death of a human rights defender is a tragedy, even more so if she has already been threatened. The federal government and the government of Bahia are reviewing, obviously not only in Bahia, but throughout Brazil, all protection protocols. A tragedy like this needs to make us improve the program, improve protection measures, improve policing actions across the country”, said the secretary.
According to Freitas, the teams are in the field reinforcing the security of community and region activists. Relatives of Mãe Bernadette were removed from Quilombo Pitanga do Palmares as a protection measure.
In a note published on Saturday (19), the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship informed that, next week, the General Coordination of the Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders will be in Bahia to “fulfill an agenda aimed at strengthening the protection program in the state”.
Representatives of the federal government will visit threatened communities and want to gather information for the reformulation of this public policy.
At the federal level, the National Secretariat for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights is responsible for articulating the various bodies and entities. The program, however, is implemented through agreements entered into with state governments which, in turn, enter into partnerships with civil society organizations.
In Bahia, the state program is carried out through the Department of Justice and Human Rights of Bahia, which has a civil society entity as a technical team to guarantee assistance.
“The most important thing, at this moment, is the priority in the investigations. Because the first step in an in-depth review of protection programs is to find, effectively, who were the executors of Mother Bernadette, the entire Civil Police is mobilized. Our obligation is to offer a response to this case and further qualify the violence prevention policy and the protection of people who feel threatened”, said the secretary.
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security in the quilombo
Today, in Bahia, 94 human rights defenders, such as quilombolas, indigenous peoples and rural workers, are under protection, and 25 are under analysis.
“Brazil is a very violent country. Unfortunately, states that have natural wealth, important mineral assets, they are the object of very intense disputes between economic power and traditional communities. Bahia is one of the states with the largest number of indigenous communities and quilombola communities and this certainly means that there is a strong dispute around the territorial rights of these communities”, he said.
A survey by the Security Observatories Network, carried out with the support of state public security departments and released in June of this year, already pointed to Bahia as the 2nd state in Brazil with the most occurrences of violence against traditional peoples and communities. Behind only Pará, Bahia registered 428 victims of violence in the period from 2017 to 2022.
Mother Bernadette had been in the protection program since 2017, when her son, Binho do Quilombo, was murdered. Security cameras were installed at the house of the mother of saint and the Military Police made rounds at Quilombo Pitanga do Palmares. According to Freitas, she received daily visits, sometimes more than one a day, at different times, and had telephone contact with commanders in the region.
“In addition, in May, she was assisted by an interdisciplinary team who conducted an in-depth interview with her in order to update her risk assessments”, said the Secretary of Justice and Human Rights, explaining that there has been no change in the scenario that would call for reinforcement in the security of Mother Bernadette recently.
“Despite the fact that, in her speeches, she referred to the topic of threat as a permanent problem in the communities and was very emphatic in the demonstration for the judgment of her son’s killers, she did not report to the teams, in the reports that we have , in daily contacts with the police, something specific that could give rise to another measure”, stated.
lines of investigation
According to Bahia’s Secretary of Justice and Human Rights, there are several lines of investigation underway and nothing has yet been ruled out. “We don’t know what kind of action by Mother Bernadette led to the execution,” he said, explaining that the combativeness of human rights defenders is a cause of discomfort “for certain economic powers that often want to violate the rights of these communities.”
The general delegate of the Civil Police, Heloísa Brito, personally leads the teams in the investigation into the executors and masterminds of the crime.
“It is not possible to say which interest Mother Bernadette had thwarted since she was a person who, in her position of defending her community, could be bothering many people and groups. Since organizations such as groups linked to drug trafficking were certainly uncomfortable with the leadership of Mother Bernadette, economic groups that were interested in exploiting the territory, those responsible for the death of her son may also be very uncomfortable with her militancy”, said Felipe Freitas.
There is also the connotation of religious racism for the crime. For the secretary, racism and economic exploitation of groups from traditional territories generate more vulnerability for these leaders.
“Whatever the motivation [para o crime]it is inevitable to recognize that racism and religious intolerance and that territorial conflicts are part of the context of life in traditional communities”, added the secretary.
defenders of democracy
With a history of activism and academic production linked to the black movement, Felipe Freitas had known Mãe Bernadete for over 16 years and, according to him, the personal and collective feeling is one of dismay at the brutal crime. The quilombola leader was executed with shots in the face while watching television with two grandchildren and two other children in the living room of her house and religious yard.
“We are not here just dealing with our duty, our obligation as public servants to investigate and elucidate the death of a Bahian citizen who was the victim of brutal violence. We are also here investigating the death of a friend, a person who was our ally, an ally of our common interests in the field of human rights.”said Freitas, adding that she was a member of the Bahia government’s rights councils and actively participated in government program initiatives.
Mãe Bernadete was also coordinator of Conaq (National Coordination of Quilombos Articulation) and former secretary for the Promotion of Racial Equality of Simões Filho.
For Secretary Felipe Freitas, human rights defenders and social fighters play a fundamental role in democratic life. “A person like Mãe Bernadette played an important role in the life of that community, not only because she fought for her rights, but because she, in practice, was someone who fought for very practical public services, who welcomed families, who listened to people, that mediated people’s access to public services, which favored the entry of public power in the place. This is something that is fundamental to democratic life and it is the obligation of the Brazilian State to reinforce, intensify, qualify and improve the protection measures for people like her”highlighted.
With information from Brazil Agency.
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