With precarious housing conditions, lack of basic sanitation, and low access to clean and healthy water, the favelas depict a sharp image of Brazil’s socio-economic segregation. The global pandemic is only exacerbating the socio-economic divisions in South America’s largest country, where President Bolsonaro himself was recently diagnosed with COVID-19.
Since the first case was confirmed in February 2020 the country has become South America’s epicentre of the disease with the number of confirmed cases increasing daily. Brazil’s lack of response has led the country to a death toll in excess of 80,000 thus far.
LOCAL VERSUS FEDERAL RESPONSE
In a decision tackling Bolsonaro’s downplaying of the severity of the virus, the country’s Supreme Federal Court granted the state, district, and municipal governments competence to regulate and enforce the necessary measures to manage the public health crisis. Although a smart move to enforce the necessary lockdowns and counter the cycle of misinformation introduced by Brazil’s president, neither the state nor the municipal governors were prepared to regulate and properly enforce safety measures. Some municipal governments such as Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, or Manaus started to relax the rules at a very early stage, and it became normal to see residents resuming their daily activities despite the country’s situation becoming more critical and deteriorating everyday.
The inconsistent and irresponsible enforcement by the local governments, along with the political divisions exacerbated by the pandemic, have paved the way toward an ever-worsening crisis in Brazil.
THE VIRUS HAS REACHED THE FAVELA
In the early stages of the pandemic, infections were concentrated in the richest neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Since the disease made its way into the favelas, the impoverished housing conditions and crowded living quarters make it extremely difficult to maintain the necessary hygiene and social distancing requirements to stop the spread of the disease.
Whilst 71% of favela residents acknowledge the lifting of social distancing restrictions as an adverse step, it is undeniable that, in the middle of an unprecedented public health crisis, many people from the struggling communities, in order to provide for their families, have to endanger their lives while working in informal, insecure and underpaid jobs. As a direct result of this socio-economic inequality, domestic workers are the working group most affected by the virus.
SOLIDARITY AND COMMUNITY ORGANISATION IS NECESSARY TO TACKLE THE VIRUS
The Federal Government implemented an emergency employment aid; however, for 13.6 million people living in favelas across the country the overall feeling is of abandonment and apprehension in regard to the country’s leadership.
Whereas article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserts that all citizens should be given the necessary and decent means to fulfill their socio-economic rights, Brazil has demonstrated a lack of commitment to accomplish this fundamental and basic human right. By not acknowledging the impact of the public health emergency affecting the country and especially its socio-economically disadvantaged areas, not creating assertive measures to safeguard basic human rights for these communities, and failing to take adequate action to control the deaths and spread of the disease, Brazil is failing deliberately to comply with the foundations of international human rights law. This failure could quickly lead to complaints at both the regional and international level against the state.
Amidst intense social and public health turmoil, community organisation seems to be the only reliable solution to prevent an exacerbated humanitarian crisis.
Activists, community leaders, private institutions, and donors are providing assistance to favelas across the country. From Rio de Janeiro--with Mare Mobilisation Front delivering food and hygiene items in the Mare favela for approximately 140,000 resident--to São Paulo--with UNAS, in the Heliopolis favela, delivering so far 27,000 food baskets and raising public health awareness--favelas have received a measure of necessary solidarity to support their communities.
Albeit not enough to halt the rising COVID-related deaths, these community task forces have been the most effective response to tackle the pandemic thus far. Praised by the international community, including the United Nations, for their tailored guidance to recipients and consideration of each favela’s specific environment, these organisations have contributed more to the country’s health safety than the state’s regulations and empty actions.
Diana is a Guinea-Bissauan Legal Advisor based in London. She holds an LLB from the University of Lisbon School of Law and is due to start the LLM in September 2021. With strong and passionate opinions about Human Rights, Feminism and Pan-Africanism she believes that a robust International Human Law regime and assertive measures to ensure Womens Rights and Africa’s full emancipation are the key to a better and fairer world for everyone.