July 19, 2021

09:07

MANAUS – The states of the Legal Amazon registered, in 2020, the total of 7.453 cases of sexual violence against children and adolescents between 0 to 19 years. According to the survey of the 15th Brazilian Yearbook of Public Safety, released on Thursday, 15, Pará and Mato Grosso were the ones with the highest rates, with a total of 2,785 and 1,454 cases, respectively.

The data indicate the two types of abuse: rape, sexual intercourse with people without consent; and rape of a vulnerable person, libidinous intercourse with a person under 14, with or without consent. In this case, the penalty is imprisonment, from eight to 15 years. If the conduct results in bodily injury of a serious nature, the penalty is imprisonment for 10 to 20 years, but if it results in death, imprisonment can be as long as 30 years.

Besides Pará and Mato Grosso, the state of Rondônia was the one that presented the most cases against children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 years in 2020, with 855 occurrences. According to the study, the list follows with Tocantins (682), Amazonas (629), Maranhão (418), Amapá (364), and Roraima (266). No data were released regarding the state of Acre.

The yearbook divides the survey into three age groups: 0 to 11 years; 12 to 17 years; and 18 to 19 years. According to the survey, when the data is related to children aged 0 to 11 years old, it is higher. In total, there are 3,499 occurrences against this age group. As for the group aged 12 to 17 years, there were 3,288 cases. As for 18 to 19 year olds, there were 401 cases.

Analysis

According to the yearbook, the Brazilian Forum for Public Safety has shown since 2018 that more than half of the victims of sexual violence in the country who reach police stations were 13 years old or younger. According to the institution, among victims aged 0 to 19 years, the percentage of crimes with victims up to 13 years old rose from 70% in 2019 to 77% in 2020. With the data revealed, the study points out that with each passing year, rape victims in Brazil are younger.

According to the yearbook, despite the underreporting caused by the pandemic, it is possible to affirm that in 2020 the victims of rape and rape of vulnerability in Brazil are, on average, younger than the profile of victims presented in 2019.

“Sexual violence against children and adolescents is defined as any sexual act between one or more adults and a child or adolescent that has the purpose of sexually stimulating the child and/or adolescent, as well as using them to obtain any type of sexual stimulation. It is also defined as to the involvement of children and adolescents who, being dependent and immature as to their development, are unable to fully understand the sexual activities in which they are involved and, therefore, are incapable of giving consent. Broadly speaking, sexual violence includes pedophilia, violent sexual abuse, and incest, and is divided between intrafamilial and non-familial,” explains the study.

The consequences of these libidinous acts are unwanted pregnancy, physical injuries, and sexually transmitted diseases, in addition to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, eating disorders, sexual and mood disorders, increased use or abuse of alcohol and drugs. “Sexual abuse in childhood leaves lifelong scars,” emphasizes the Brazilian Yearbook of Public Safety.

Underreports

For the Public Safety specialist, Hilton Ferreira, the data do not match reality. That is because, he explains, there are underreporting and the year 2020 was an atypical year. According to Ferreira, it is estimated that for each rape case, three are not reported and it is necessary that these underreports are studied by all parts: security departments, municipal and legislative powers, beyond the civil society.

“This is a black box that needs to be better clarified throughout the country. Therefore, all the data does not have a purpose because of this phenomenon. The difficulty of making a report of violence in Brazil is still very big”, said Ferreira, remembering the importance of the Virtual Police Station (Devir), from the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety (MJSP), implemented in Amazonas last week. The system allows to do the O.R. online, being part, automatically, of the national register.

In Pandemic

In the midst of the pandemic, still according to Hilton Ferreira, the numbers of sexual violence may be higher. This is because, remembers the specialist, the health posts were turned to the care of people with Covid-19 and many people stopped going to the hospital units because of the new coronavirus.

“You can imagine the difficulty to do an occurrence report at a time when the country and the Amazon is normal. Now imagine in a year of health crisis, with curfews, with prohibitions of certain segments. How can an aunt that usually takes this child or teenager to do the report?”, he stressed.

To Ferreira, it is necessary to create a hotline for the population to more easily report cases of sexual abuse, such as, for example, a mobile tool. According to him, the prevention of these cases comes from the relatives, friends, or neighbors themselves, who should observe any changes in the children’s behavior.

“This is the biggest prevention, the signals that the child or the younger person emits, and that this protection network of neighbors can be much more exploited to immediately register [the crimes], without a lot of bureaucracy and preserving people’s anonymity,” he concluded.

Translated by Bruno Sena