Brazil

Report on racism in Brazil.

Sources: O Estado de Sao Paulo; Abong.

In Brazil infant mortality rates are a very clear indicator of the inequity between different ethnic and racial population sectors. According to the 2009-2010 Annual Report on Racial Inequality in Brazil from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), infant mortality among whites is 37.3 per thousand live births but among people of African descent the figure is 62.3.

Annual Report on Women

Source: Inesc (in Portuguese)

Brazil’s Annual Report on Women, released this month by the government, shows that 43.1 per cent of women have suffered some kind of violence in their own homes. The percentage falls to 12.3 per cent in the case of men. “The Annual Report is essential for the political struggle in favour of women’s rights”, said Eliana Gracia, expert of the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies (Inesc, one of the focal points of Social Watch in Brazil).

The fast and strong recovery of the Brazilian economy in 2009 was mostly due to a combination of non-orthodox compensatory policies. The Federal authorities broke with the neoliberal orientation followed by previous administrations and by President Lula himself in his first term. The Brazilian experience shows that social policies can also be supportive of economic growth. However, although the situation is still under control, as the world economy is turning the page of the international crisis, a second wave of crisis and instability may be forming right now with no clear picture of what the outcome may look like.
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