Madre Cristina’ Solidarity Action Association

The organization’s mission is to mobilize and organize people and social entities to act in solidarity for the promotion of justice. This way, it contributes to the organization and the education of people, supporting groups that develop initiatives of social and structural changes in society as an alternative to combat social inequality and misery in our country. The group has three main axis of activities: assistance to indigenous communities; a campaign focused on waste recycling; and youth mobilization actions.

At least 4,500 families will probably be forcibly evicted from their houses because of the works taking place in Porto Alegre in preparation for the 2014 World Cup. Examples of those are the expansion of the Salgado Filho airport runway and doubling of the avenue Moab Caldas which is said to be necessary for the improvement of the access to the stadium Beira-Rio, where the matches are going to take place in the state capital. The eviction policy has been to take the poor away from the urban centers of the city, their places of origin and jobs. The areas to which they are taken generally do not have infrastructure, leaving the population at the mercy of fate.

As revealed by the violations occurred in host countries of World Cups and other sporting mega-events such as South Africa, Greece and New Delhi, etc., it is known that besides the violation of the right to housing, other human rights violations occur in the background. In Porto Alegre, for example, the workers of construction companies that are earning incentives from the Federal Government denounce violation of their labor rights.

The Project

The proposed project is part of a national network for connecting the various local actors involved in monitoring the effects of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics in Brazilian cities. In addition to monitoring the impacts, the network develops joint strategies to tackle and file complaints in the 12 capitals that will host the World Cup (Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Natal, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza, Manaus, Cuiabá and Brasília). The network is linked to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing.

With the support of Brazil Fund, the group will promote community organization through the People’s World Cup Committee (CPC). The idea is to monitor human rights violations in communities that are directly and indirectly affected by the forced evictions planned for the implementation of the works related to the hosting of the 2014 World Cup.

CPC will encourage and promote the political education of leaders so that they can understand the situation and organize their communities to demand the right to adequate housing. It will also produce information and publications to report and publicize to the general public the social, environmental, urban and economic impacts of the works in Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul).

Among the activities planned, it is the mobilization of communities; the organization of the “Third Meeting of the National Network of Monitoring of People’s Rights” in Porto Alegre, with representatives from the 12 host cities; and the production of leaflets regarding the major human rights violations committed. Information will also be available in the blog http://comitepopularcopapoa2014.blogspot.com.

The project will directly benefit about 4,500 families affected by the forced evictions.