Zumbi dos Palmares Center for the Defense of Children’s and Adolescents’ Rights (Cedeca) (Alagoas)

Objectives and target population:

Supported by previews of the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA in Portuguese), Cedeca-AL aims to put together social and legal assistance services that will promote technical defense in emblematic cases of lethal violence against children and adolescents in Maceió (capital of Alagoas).

Main activities:

– Make the choice of which cases to accompany based on information released in local newspapers, data of the Legal Medical Institute (IML) and tips sent directly from relatives of the victims;

– Mobilize rights councils, from the System of Rights Guarantees and other relevant organizations to hold accountable the authors of crimes against children and adolescents;

– Contribute to the implementation of new policies that interrupt the existing cycle of rights violation.

Context:

The situation in Alagoas should be worrisome for any defender of human rights. The state appears to be the most violent in the country, with a rate of 66.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, according to a report by the Sangari Institute.

According to Cedeca-AL, this scenario is worsened by a crisis in Public Security, ongoing for decades now. Crime has increased and grown more violent; and organized crime has spread, increasing homicide rates, most of all those of adolescents and young adults. Among the victims are adolescents who are sentenced to socio-educational measures.

The “fight” against narco-trafficking has also increased the abuses committed against adolescents apprehended by the police. The fact that teenagers are used by traffickers to sell drugs puts these and other children targets of the police apparatus. This reality puts youth in a context of summary judgment and execution, without the right to defense.

About the organization:

The Cedeca Zumbi dos Palmares Center’s mission is the intransigent defense of children’s and adolescents’ fundamental rights, through legal, social and political instruments, based on the doctrine of holistic protection previewed in the ECA. The group also carries out the Protection Program for Children and Adolescents Threatened with Death (PPCAAM).

The group offers legal and social assistance for cases of sexual violence, torture, homicide and other violations of children’s and adolescents’ fundamental rights, committed or facilitated by the action (or lack thereof) of the authorities.

Partnerships: 

Cedeca-AL cooperates with fronts and forums for the defense of children’s and adolescents’ rights, such as the Permanent Forum against Violence in Alagoas and the DCA Forum; besides being affiliated with Anced – the National Association of Centers of Defense of Children and Adolescents.