Is a DDR process possible in Brazil?

The first time representatives of Brazil's Ministry of Justice and of Viva Rio met together to think about and develop shared actions within the umbrella of the PRONASCI (a governmental public security program that  for the first time focuses on young people in conflict with the law), led us to reflect on other experiences with security policies from around the world centered on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, or DDR, (which we will introduce below), or policies directed at youths involved in armed violence, with a view to adapting some of the best procedures to our own reality.

The first thing we verified is that there is an ongoing and interesting international debate on this topic. The difficulty resides in distinguishing between the contexts of war and of peace – such as they are understood internationally: for example, how to distinguish combatants from non-combatants; armed opposition groups (such as guerrillas) from groups engaged in illegal profiting, such as narco-traffickers. These are issues that lead many international organizations to prefer to adopt the term “violence” in place of “war”.

This provides an opportunity to manage contexts which, even if not considered situations of war, disclose important levels of violence that must be addressed and require decisive
answers. Brazil is a model example of this situation: it is a country at peace, yet with levels of violence higher than those of most contemporary wars.

As we all know, the main agents of this level of violence are the drug cartels and highly
organized, structured criminal organizations, with weapons and war training. However, the great difference between these contexts and those of war is that Brazil is a democratic, developed country, with fully established institutions. Within this context, would it not be simpler to apply international instruments for the reduction of violence? What are these instruments? How and by whom can they be successfully put into practice?

Thus we started to work on two discussions. On the one hand, we saw that we needed to begin with the concept of DDR for cases of extreme violence (as are the examples of Colombia or Haiti), and, on the other hand, learn from police programs where the police officer and a young person might engage in dialog (such as the good practices of Nicaragua and Spain's, Catalonia).

What is “DDR”?

 

DDR is a program of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of armed agents,
generally implemented in post-conflict situations, in other words, after wars come to an end. DDR is an opportunity for building security, this being one of the most important ingredients for obtaining stability and for peace building. By its very nature, this type of program converts armed agents into active individuals through economic and social reintegration. Even if the large majority of programs focus their attention upon armed agents, the ultimate goal is to reach the development of the community as a whole.

• Disarmament: the gathering and control of arms, both from the armed agents as
from the civilian population. The disarmament phase also includes the development of
programs responsible for the management and control of firearms.

• Demobilization: A formal act by which the armed agents relinquish their activity.

• Reintegration: Provision of the assistance required to meet the basic necessities of demobilized people, and of their families.

Today, twenty two processes of DDR exist in the world and an overview of them shows us that:

• 1,255,000 people benefited from them in 2006;

•Children represented 8-10% of these beneficiaries;

•The total cost of the 22 programs is estimated to reach US $2,000 million;

• This means an average investment of US$ 1570,00 per person;

• The average duration of these programs is 3.5 years.

Since last Wednesday, several international specialists have been meeting at Viva Rio to work on this issue and try to extract some elements that could be used in the case of Brazil. Among the many sustained discussions I would like to highlight some of the elements we think could inspire us in the Brazilian case.

The DDR process in Haiti:

• Peace agreement between the armed gangs;

• Creation of a National Commission for the DDR

The DDR process in Colombia:

• A mix of collective demobilization ( an entire armed group as the fruit of a collective
negotiation) and individual demobilization (opening the door to those people who
decided to leave armed life);

• The various experiments in matters of reconciliation are interesting.

As to law enforcement, police practices which could be interesting for Brazil are:

Nicaragua – one of the few countries of Central America that does not suffer from the
violence generated by maras (local gangs) – which is due to:

• A preventive policy for youth, which combines police action with social and
psychological assistance;

• Individualized accompaniment of youngsters at risk and of their surroundings.

Catalonia, Spain, where the levels of violence as a consequence of gang action of Latin
American origin have been neutralized, this is due to:

• The institutional recognition of gangs – offering a status of cultural organization to
those which abandon violence – and

• Working to free youth from the stigma associated with their age or ethnicity (as is the case for example, of the children of immigrants).

These examples raise the following questions: Is a DDR process possible in Brazil? Can we think up concrete ideas and proposals? How to include the public security component and the police-youngsters relation in this model?

By tinkering a little with the concept, we suggest that in Brazil we should talk about something new, based on the positive experiences previously mentioned. Thus emerged the notion of DMI – Disarmament, Mobilization and Integration.

This concept stems from a basic element already included in some way in Brazil's Security with Citizenship plan, the PRONASCI:

i.e. not assigning the total responsibility for the prevention and treatment of this problem to
the governmental authorities. Reducing armed violence in Brazil has to be a commitment of the (Federal) Union, State governments and the Municipalities, but also an engagement of civil society.

In a first phase of DMI, Disarmament, Brazil already has the experience of the gun
collection campaign, as well as the success of the its gun law, known as the Disarmament Statute. The reduction of the number of deaths by firearms since the adoption of the new legislation is a fact and a success of all involved. Even though it is not yet wholly implemented, Brazil's gun law, the Disarmament Statute, is being strongly attacked and some of its dispositions are at risk. This is why the defense of and the full application of the Statute is a priority in violence prevention efforts.

Other measures, such as, for example, regularly organizing a firearms collection program for the duration of one month per year, along the same lines of the one previously held in Brazil, would be a constructive practical measure to withdraw more firearms from circulation in Brazilian society. Its positive effect has already been proven.

Furthermore, another measure which should be implemented is to consider a firearm as an aggravating factor in the case of criminal offenses. It is inadmissible that children
recruited by the drug trade as sentinels or delivery boys receive the same penal treatment as bosses or managers of the drug trade. A discussion of the specific judicial treatment of
such cases becomes indispensable.

In the second DMI phase, we propose mobilization instead of demobilization, because we believe that society as a whole should take responsibility for its role in this process. Only by such means can one guarantee an effective integration and reconciliation between the young people at risk or in conflict with the law and the whole of society. As all the international experiences in the field have shown us, one must also highlight the importance of mediation as a key component in making these processes viable. This implies in changes to the Penal Code, so that the Police might intervene as mediators in situations involving youngsters (as recounted by police officers from Catalonia, Spain, and Nicaragua), setting up multidisciplinary teams to help the young people and their families. This would also contribute to  PRONASCI measures in the field of mediation of other social agents.

In addition, it would be useful to include, for example, a mandatory course on conflict
mediation in the curricula of police training.

In the third DMI phase we took into consideration Integration - and not Reintegration - , having in mind the fact that this targeted public has been excluded from society. What we really need is a wider social inclusion and the effective implementation of social programs which include the members of this specific group (we refer to the children and young people mobilized by armed criminality), and of their families. Our big challenge is how to reach these people, how to adapt the language, how to follow the example of the Spanish law enforcement in Catalonia, respecting differences, among other examples of success.

 

Finally, the aim of the process we are trying to initiate is to prevent the involvement of the
young people in armed violence, and to create an exit  for those already involved in it.
As things now stand, there is no such exit today. The only ways out for a child or youth involved in armed violence in Brazil are jail or death.

 

This is only the beginning of a long process. Here are some questions that remain for further debate: Are there legal mechanisms in place for reducing the sentences of those persons who wish to leave the drug trade, such as there are in Colombia when armed agents decide to relinquish armed violence? What methods could be employed to approach youngsters in a situation of conflict? How can this entire concept and process be discussed, collectively? And, the most important question of all: how do we listen to this specific youngster? In a process of this nature, the first steps to consider are dialog and exchanges among the government, the police, civil society and the young. Who knows if, as a collective enterprise, starting with the existing programs and projects, we will manage to work in an effective way to change the reality of so many young people in Brazil.

A talk presented on September 28, 2007 at the International Seminar “Disarmament, Demobilization , Reintegration and Security and Citizenship: International Experiences and the Case of Brazil” (“Desarmamento, Desmobilização, Reintegração e Segurança com Cidadania: Experiências Internacionais e o Caso do Brasil”)

 

For more information on the issues cited in this presentation: www.comunidadesegura.org

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