E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.2
page 19
51.
As he does at the end of any visit to a place of detention, the Special Rapporteur asked
the Director of Franco da Rocha to put in place specific measures to ensure that minors who
cooperated with him and his team would not be subjected to any reprisals. In view of the fact
that it was believed that the minors with whom he had spoken at the public prosecutors’
office had already been subjected to beatings as a form of reprisal for having cooperated with
the Special Rapporteur, the latter requested the Director to act with due diligence in this case.
It must also be noted that a large number of inmates had refused to be called in by the
Special Rapporteur at the end of his tour to be individually and confidentially interviewed,
for fear of reprisals. Most noted that in any case they were going to be beaten after the
Special Rapporteur’s departure for having spoken with him. On 28 August 2000, the
Special Rapporteur was informed by public prosecutors for children and adolescents of the City
of São Paulo who had accompanied him during his visit to Franco da Rocha that after his
departure at least three of the minors he had met had been subjected to intimidation and reprisals,
including beatings, by monitores, some of whom were said to be wearing hoods. Furthermore,
the Special Rapporteur was informed that, since his visit, a large number of minors, mainly
detainees in wings G and H which he had visited, had been locked in their cells 24 hours a day.
It was reported that the Director, when asked by the public prosecutors to take measures to
ensure the right to mental and physical integrity of the minors detained in his institution,
indicated that because of the large number of minors under his responsibility, he could not
control all of his subordinates. On the same day, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to
the federal and relevant state authorities.
52.
Upon return to Brasilia, the Special Rapporteur was informed by the federal authorities
that, following his urgent appeal, the Secretary of State for Human Rights had immediately met
the senior officials concerned in São Paulo. By letter dated 5 September 2000 from the
Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations Office at Geneva, the Government indicated
that it was deeply concerned about such reports and was fully committed to their immediate
clarification. The State Secretary in Charge of Social Development indicated in a subsequent
written communication to the Special Rapporteur that an administrative inquiry had been
opened. Two minors were taken to the Forensic Medical Institute which concluded that they
had not been beaten. Furthermore, the Director of Franco da Rocha is reported to have
categorically denied the allegations and to have stated that the adolescents interviewed by the
Special Rapporteur and the public prosecutors were the ones who had organized the 10 August
revolt. The Special Rapporteur was later informed that, at the public prosecutors’ request, the
minors concerned had been transferred to another FEBEM institution from which, on the night
of their arrival, they had escaped after having taken some guards as hostages. Another inquiry
was opened into these events. Finally, the Secretary indicated that the Director had been
misinterpreted when he was reported to have indicated that he did not have control over all of his
subordinates. This incident is the subject of direct follow-up with the Government.
53.
Finally, the Special Rapporteur met the President of the FEBEM Workers’ Union
(Sindicato dos Trabalhadores de Entidades di Assistencia ao Menor e a Família do Estado de
São Paulo), who explained that the Union had been warning FEBEM authorities about the
explosive situation in Franco da Rocha for several months owing to the fact that the facility had
not been designed as a re-education facility but as a prison, and that there were too many
detainees being held there, especially in comparison with the number of monitores and technical
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