The Center for the Mobilization of Marginalized Populations (CEAP) states that the majority of the victims are impoverished male adolescents of African descent. In addition to being at risk of homicides, these young Brazilian are frequently humiliated, tortured, and mutilated at the hands of their assailants.

The wide-spread ideological argument that every poor child is a 'potential criminal' is not only groundless, but also cruel and deeply prejudicial. A report released by the Rio de Janeiro's State Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry revealed that 90 percent of the adolescents killed in the State had no previous police record. Nevertheless, death squads operate in many Brazilian states. Police officers are frequently accused of murdering destitute minors, and businessmen are alleged to contract professional killers to 'clean the streets'. According to the MNMMR, Marco de Lima, a city official in Novo Hamburgo from the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) went so far as to declare that "We have to kill when they are still young, so they do not bother us after they grow up".

The MNMMR and Amnesty International estimate that over 90 percent of the crimes committed against Brazilian Children and Adolescents go unpunished. The resulting climate of impunity subverts the Law and undermines the State's responsibility to meet out justice. In effect, to ignore these killings is to condone an unofficial 'death penalty" that victimizes society's most disadvantaged and vulnerable members: its children and adolescents.

Sadly, the world at large is witness to the failure of the Brazilian judicial system and law-enforcement agencies to uphold national laws designed to protect the human rights of children and adolescents. We are also aware that the foundation for change is being prepared by Brazilian society. In the past ten years civil society has taken many positive steps to curb violence against the children of the poor. Eager to consolidate the process of democratization and to avoid social chaos, community agents, neighborhood associations, the church, minority groups, unions, and non-governmental organizations have raised children's issues as national priorities in the political agenda. The plight of Brazilian street children led to the passage of the landmark Child and Adolescent Statute, which stands among the world's most advanced legislation on children's rights. The Statutes aims not only to guarantee fundamental rights to all Brazilian youth, but also to promote a new concept of childhood which could become a model to other nations. This legislation provides excellent tools which now need to be enacted in practice. We hope your administration will commit to fully implement the Child and Adolescent Statute. This bold initiative merits cooperation and support from the international community. We urge you to use the full power of you office to guarantee that the Child and Adolescent Statute, a remarkable document, does not become a dead letter. With regard to impunity, the Child and Adolescent Statute states that:

No child or adolescent will be subject to any form of negligence, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty, or oppression, and any violation of their fundamental rights, either by act or omission, will be punished according to the terms of the law. [Article 5]

While a few of the most egregious massacres of children in Brazil have generated commendable responses from federal and state governments, these measures have rarely led to full investigations or prosecutions, nor have they succeeded in altering the general fact of impunity that makes such massacres possible. We call on you to use your authority as President to reinvigorate efforts to guarantee rights for children. We believe that leadership at the highest levels of government is necessary if lasting change is to occur, and the gratuitous murder of children and adolescents is truly to end.

The following cases represent just a few of the many unresolved incidents involving the murder of children and adolescents. Their resolution, however, would represent an important step toward ending impunity:

Sao Paulo - 06/12/94, in Taboao da Serra, where three adolescents were executed (Alexandre Lima, 17; Andre Cerqueira, 14; and Adriano Cerqueira, 12).

Amazonas - 06/24/94, in Manaus, where five adolescents were massacred (Joel Santos Xavier, 18; Jander da Silva, 15; Antonio Cleuter Articlinio, 14; and Moises Pereira da Silva, 16). The governor of Amazonia State, Mr. Gilberto Mestrinho, prohibited the reporting of this case in the media, which shows the lack of political will to hold the perpetrators responsible for this crime.

Roraima - 08/19/93, in Haximu, where three teenage girls and six children from the Yanomami tribe were massacred by gold-miners. Their bodies were cut with machetes, and the children were decapitated.

Alagoas - 01/20/94 to 02/03/94, where seven boys were assassinated. The State Government insists that their death were the result of a gang war, but the prosecutor in charge publicly declared that they were victims of a death squad.

Espirito Santo - where investigations on death-squad activities have forced the District Attorney assigned to the case to seek help of the Federal Police. The group allegedly involved in organizing death squads is the so called "Scuderie Le Cocq", which is comprised of over 800 members in the state of Espirito Santo alone.

Rio de Janeiro - 07/26/90, in Acari, where 10 teenagers were abducted and disappeared (Rozane de Souza Santos; Edson de Souza Costa; Mallace de Souza Nascimento; Luis Henrique da S. Eusebio; Antonio Carlos da Silva; Moises dos Santos Cruz; Luis Carlos V. de Deus; Edmo do Nascimento; Udson de Oliveira; and Cristiane Souza Costa). The key witness, Edmeia Euzebio, who accused police officers of being involved in the crime, was subsequently murdered.

Rio de Janeiro - 07/23/94 when seven sleeping street-children were massacred in front of the Candelaria church by a death squad allegedly made up of police officers.

Brasilia-DF - 02/02/93 when the teenager Laercio Xavier was allegedly assassinated by Sebastiao Curio de Moura, a Reserve Colonel.

President Cardoso, we wish you great success in your endeavors for Brazil and for all Brazilians. Yours is a special opportunity; we sincerely hope that today's children, and their children, come to recognize and remember your administration ad the one that truly recognized the value of every child, defending the right of every child and adolescent to citizenship, and to life. We are confident that with you leadership such a transformation can occur. Brazil is at a critical juncture; the challenges are enormous, yet the need for change has never been greater. We stand in solidarity with each and every necessary effort toward that end.

Sincerely yours,