Between 2014 and 2019, more than 9,000 children were injured or killed worldwide, according to UNICEF data. Unfortunately, they are the biggest victims of armed violence and forced displacement when their families are forced to flee their countries at war. The result is that every year thousands of children have their childhood brutally interrupted and their families grieve for such premature and meaningless deaths. However, it is not only during wartime that children are affected by armed violence. In Brazil, according to UNICEF, 32 children and adolescents are murdered every day, especially in our large cities.
Thus, although it is not at war, Brazil kills more children and adolescents than countries like Syria, which has faced a civil war for more than a decade. The Brazilian tragedy is greater in the peripheries and slums. It is there that children are shot and killed in broad daylight and in the middle of busy streets full of people.
This disaster happened once again in Maré, on October 09 of 2020, with the death of Leônidas Augusto da Silva, a black boy of 12 years old. Leônidas arrived with his grandmother at a supermarket on Avenida Brasil, one of the most important roads in the city, when he was hit by a firearm shot.
According to witnesses, the shots were fired by occupants of a car that shot towards a military police patrol and another vehicle that also participated in the confrontation. According to a report by Leonidas' family to the press, he was taken to a hospital after lying on the floor for 40 minutes, but did not resist.
In face of Leonidas' death, we all need to take a stand against the recurrence of brutal deaths like this. We need, more than anything, to ask ourselves why these deaths continue to happen, especially in territories like Maré. What conditions allow and favor the repetition of child deaths by firearms?
We have no doubt that our enormous and shameful socioeconomic inequality and racism - the majority of those killed are black people - translate into the lack of better life and security conditions for the population living in the favelas. It is well known that the failure of the State to help the most vulnerable social groups contributes to children remaining victims of armed violence.
Historically, the State, the same that should guarantee equal rights for all, has neglected the issue of public security in the favelas and has never discussed a policy that effectively preserves lives. On the contrary, the actions of the security forces end up aggravating the situation of violence, as they are guided by confrontation with criminal groups which only generates more violence.
Again, Maré’s residents mourn the death of one of their boys. However, it is necessary that this regret is felt by the whole city and that, at the same time, it becomes indignation and demand. This crime cannot go unpunished and once again become “just” statistics. Criminals need to be identified and tried.
The violence against our children needs to be stopped urgently!
We are in solidarity with the family of Leônidas and with all the families that are victims of violence in Maré, and around the world.
Photo: Douglas Lopes
