Viva Rio: farewell to arms in Brazil

Josephine

Although Brazil is not officiallyat war, the country has the one of the highest homicide ratesin the world, with more than 35,000 firearm deaths every year. Braziliansare about four times more likely to die by firearms than the general worldpopulation.
Armed violence in urban Brazil is anepidemic, and we can think of guns as a vehicle of transmission that multipliesand aggravates violence; we can even identify the main risk group: youngmales from poor neighborhoods (favelas). In 1999, in Rio de Janeiro, young malesbetween 15 and 19 years of age were 24 times more likely to die by firearms thangirls in the same age group. To this day, guns remain the most common cause ofdeath in this population.
Viva Rio was born in 1993, in responseto two episodes of particularly severe urban violence: the murder of eight streetchildren in downtown Rio, and the massacre of twenty-one favela residents bypolice that same year. Led by a broad constituency, Viva Rio articulates safety as afundamental right that conditions the implementation of every other human right, as well as of local development.
Campaigns for peace as well as projects aiming to reduce criminal behaviour andarmed violence are the hallmarks of the organisation's work. Activities to con-front problems associated with the proliferation and misuse of firearms are carriedout at the local, national, and international levels. Viva Rio concentrates its workon three objectives:

Reducing the demand for guns: raisingawareness of the risks involved with using or carrying firearms.
One of Viva Rio's most successful public campaigns waslaunched on Mothers' Day 2001. "Choosegun-free! It's your weapon or me"brought together women from all sec-tions of Brazilian society-- actresses, journalists, artists, and the rela-tives of homicide victims--to pressure their husbands, boyfriends and sons togive up their guns.
Improving stockpile controls: volun-tary small arms collection campaigns, destruction of guns surplus, improvementof secure storage facilities.
In June 2001, Viva Rio collaborated with the state government of Rio deJaneiro and the military to destroy 100,000 weapons under police custody--the largest weapons destruction in history. A further 10,000 weapons were destroyedon 9 July 2002, and 5,000 more on the eve of the UN conference on Small ArmsTrafficking in 2003.
Curbing the supply of guns: stop illicitarms trafficking and control the production, sales, export and import of smallarms and ammunition. Last July, the Brazilian Senate approved a new bill ban-ning the carrying of firearms by civilians and severely restricting firearms posses-sion. In addition, the bill proposes the complete prohibition of firearms andammunition sales to civilians, to be decided in a plebiscite vote in October2005. The bill now moves to the Brazilian House of Representatives, where avote is likely to happen by the end of the month. The time might have come for along-awaited victory!

Josephine works with Viva Rio.
Viva Rio, Ladeira da Glória, 98, Glória, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22211-120, Brazil (+55 21 2555 3750; email vivario@vivario.org.br; http://www.vivario.br ).