A new campaign designed to raise awareness of the sexual exploitation of minors in Brazil during the World Cup was today launched by the European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso.
The ‘Don’t Look Away’ (or “Não Desvie o Olhar” in Portuguese) campaign is being supported by well-known Brazilian footballers, such as Kaká and Juninho Pernambucano, and targets Brazilians and foreigners who are attending the World Cup 2014, raising awareness that sexual exploitation is a crime.
The project involves setting up training seminars for public managers and debates on the subject in each host city of the World Cup matches, as well as increasing support to combat sexual exploitation and making victims aware of their rights. It includes the wide promotion of the 'Call 100' hotline to enable anyone who witnesses the sexual exploitation of minors to report it.
Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said: "Brazil has had an incredible story to tell in terms of its development, with around 40 million people being lifted out of poverty in 10 years. Yet some parts of society still don't enjoy the human rights that we take for granted. The EU has worked on key projects to address this in the 12 host cities for the World Cup; such as supporting young people's rights in the favelas of Rio, empowering indigenous communities in Cuiaba, or protecting the poorest workers of São Paulo."
The ‘Don’t Look Away’ international campaign, organised by the EU’s delegation in Brazil, is being run in more than 15 countries with the ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking) network. The mayors of the 12 World Cup host cities have embraced the campaign, with a view to further improving the protection of children and adolescents, during the 2014 World Cup and other major events, such as the 2016 Olympics, which will also take place in Brazil.
Background
Human rights are one of the main areas of the EU’s work in Brazil. The EU has been running key projects in this area in the 12 host cities of the World Cup.
These include:
A project to protect women from violence in Paraíba (a state in the South of Natal)- helping them to get involved in the legal decision-making process and providing training in matters relating to violence, gender, race and political involvement. Women involved in the project include female farmers, indigenous groups and wives of the area’s recycled waste collectors.
A new programme to safeguard the rights of children and adolescents in Salvador, designed to highlight the problems of domestic violence, sexual abuse, mistreatment, theft and drug trafficking in the area. The project will provide 1,120 children and adolescents with day care or residential facilities and will raise awareness with more than 15,000 citizens of the dramatic consequences of sexual exploitation and violence on its young victims.
A project to provide legal aid to help the indigenous peoples of Xingu, in Cuiaba and other areas of the Mato Grosso state, and Quilombos communities in the Ribeira valley, in Sao Paolo, to defend their territorial rights. The Quilombos communities suffer from the lack of recognition of their territorial rights and their identity as a community. This project observes the legal actions which threaten the right of the indigenous peoples to their traditional territories, and keeps them informed of developments therein (such as disputes over already approved boundaries.)
Between 2007-2013, the European Commission provided €61m in funding to Brazil for EU-Brazil relations (eg trade, human rights, economic and social development and the environment).
Between 2014-2020, the European Commission will provide €7.5m in funding to Brazil for EU-Brazil relations (higher education with Erasmus Mundus and a Sectorial Dialogues project, which includes among other themes, human rights, environment and science and technology).
The new Partnership Instrument (PI), for which projects are under preparation, will also contribute with new resources for cooperation with Brazil in several sectors such as climate change, renewable energy, public diplomacy, and promoting trade and investment, among other areas.