Brazil Steps Up Policing Of Gangs, Sex Crime Ahead Of Climate Summit

(MENAFN- Live Mint) (Bloomberg) -- As Brazil prepares to welcome tens of thousands of foreign visitors for the United Nations' COP30 climate summit in Belém, it is ramping up security to combat two of the Amazon region's most entrenched problems: the sexual exploitation of children and teenagers, and organized crime, which reaches from the urban underworld across rivers and into the rainforest.

Belém, a city of about 1.5 million people, expects more than 50,000 conference attendees - including heads of state, government officials, business leaders, activists and academics - from nearly 200 countries. This influx for the world's largest climate event will thrust the city into the global spotlight but also create opportunities for criminal activity, according to Rodney da Silva, director at the National Secretariat of Public Security.

About 10,000 state-level security officials will patrol Belém during COP30, according to the government of Pará state, where Belém is the capital.

For Brazil, the summit will test whether it can tame deep-rooted criminal economies while projecting an image of order on the world stage.

Belém was ranked the 10th most violent city in the world in 2017 by the NGO Mexico Citizens Council for Public Security. Since then, crime has decreased significantly, with homicides falling by 88% and robberies dropping by 69%, according to official data. The state government credits the decline to measures such as increased street patrols, higher crime-clearance rates and regaining control of penitentiaries from gangs.

The Amazon region also has the highest rates of child sexual violence in Brazil, according to a study by the United Nations Children's Fund and the Brazilian Public Security Forum. In Pará, there was an average of 13 cases per day in 2023.

“Pará has a very poor history of child and adolescent exploitation,” said da Silva.“We are strengthening prevention and combat actions from now until the event. We must preserve the country's image abroad.”

Federal and local authorities have launched a special operation - Curupira-Mirim. (The name references COP30's mascot Curupira, a forest guardian spirit in Brazilian folklore, while mirim means“small” in the Indigenous Tupi language.) Officers will inspect hotels, bars, restaurants, brothels and transport hubs. Owners of these establishments are required to prohibit entry to unaccompanied minors, according to the Secretariat of Public Security of the State of Pará.

The operation has also targeted Belém's 42 islands, where poor riverside communities sit alongside tourist-frequented stilt-house restaurants and beaches.

Warship

Modeled on strategies used during the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics, security for COP30 will be coordinated through an integrated system linking federal, state and municipal forces.

Authorities are mapping gang activity tied to territorial disputes, robberies and drug trafficking. Anti-gang surveillance will stretch beyond city streets, with aerial and river patrols - particularly along the the Guama River and at Val-de-Cans International Airport - bolstered by the Brazilian Navy and other federal units.

To protect the cruise ships where some COP attendees will stay, the largest active warship in Latin America will remain stationed on the river throughout the conference, alongside a dedicated security vessel for rapid response, according to a government document seen by Bloomberg. Additional river patrols will focus on the areas near the ships.

Sexual exploitation and organized crime in Pará are rooted in deep socioeconomic inequality, poverty and marginalization. The state has one of Brazil's largest shares of the population living below the poverty line.

Belém has more than 200 favelas and urban communities, housing the highest proportion of residents living in slums of any Brazilian state capital.

As well as crime prevention efforts, the government is gearing up to handle large protests at COP30. The biggest, led by Indigenous peoples, is expected to draw up to 5,000 participants.

That's a shift from the two most recent COPs, held in autocratic Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates, where public demonstrations were restricted.

“Now people are coming to a country where protests are very common,” said Ualame Machado, Pará's state secretary of public security. In Belém, he added,“we practically don't have a day without one.”

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