‘Horrified’, UN calls for investigations into deaths in Rio

In addition to the 64 people killed, including four police officers, according to the Civil Police, another nine people were shot: three residents and six agents, four civilians and two military personnel. Among the dead are leaders of the faction in other states who were refugees in the region. The number of deaths in Operation Containment surpassed that of the police action in the Jacarezinho favela, in 2021.

The UN was not the only one to speak out. César Muñoz, director of Human Rights Watch in Brazil, stated that “a police operation that results in the deaths of more than 60 residents and police officers is a huge tragedy.”

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office must launch its own investigations and elucidate the circumstances of each death. It must also investigate the planning and decisions of the police command and Rio authorities that led to an operation that was a disaster,” he argued.

According to the entity, “the succession of lethal operations that do not result in greater security for the population, but which in fact cause insecurity, reveals the failure of Rio de Janeiro’s policies.”

“Rio needs a new public security policy, which stops encouraging clashes that victimize residents and police officers,” he stated. “Instead, it should involve communities themselves and other social actors in the search for peace and base police work on accurate data on criminal activity, prioritizing investigation and intelligence, including through quality expertise carried out with total independence, and dismantling arms trafficking, money laundering and links between criminal groups and State agents”, he added.

Police violence has always been among the main complaints made by the UN in relation to the human rights situation in Brazil. The alert was part of the reports that the entity prepared on the behavior of law enforcement in the context of racism and operations in communities.

At that time, a document was prepared by the UN rapporteur on combating torture, Nils Melzer, the rapporteur on summary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz, and three other experts from the entity who alert Brazil about the behavior of the police.