Latin America

When created by the end of 2008, the Pacifying Police Units (UPP) was labeled as “unique police force model and came with the promise of a radical change in the state public safety policies".

Elisangela's story is one among many of women heads of families who live in favelas of Brazilian cities, and who are suffering with the forced removals being carried out give way to World Cup-related construction works. Marilene de Paula tells her story.

Analysts believe that the sex market will be very active during the World Cup. In Brazil, prostitution is not a crime, but it is not regulated as a profession either.

Even though Recife holds the most remote stadium built for the World Cup, thousands of people were evicted from their homes. Activist Rudrigo Rafael explains how the government ignores human rights and why development projects in Recife are killing jobs.

In this interview professor Orlando Alves dos Santos Júnior (Research Institute of Urban and Regional Planning at Rio de Janeiro University), talks about the violations against citizen's rights that are happening in Brazil.

Antonieta Rodriguês is a former resident of Campinho, a community located in Madureira, north of Rio de Janeiro City. The woman lost her home and is now engaging against the removals and the injustices arising from the construction works.

Under the justification that a huge aquarium would increase tourism, more than US$126.8 million were spent on the Acquário Ceará in Fortaleza. A questionable project for a city in which 43 percent of the inhabitants don't even have a sewage disposal system.

One question that concerns many Brazilians is about the true cost of the 2014 World Cup. The data gathered by the NGO PACS shows where investment money for the World Cup comes from and where it is going. It proofs how companies profit from billions of public money.

In this interview Jean Wyllys answers questions about the bill he introduced and that shall regulate the work of sex workers. He makes clear why prostitutes should have a minimum guaranteed salary.

On the night of June 25, 2013, at least 1,000 residents of the Rocinha slum, south of Rio de Janeiro, gathered to protest. They demanded the completion of all the sanitation work in their neighbourhood, instead of an expensive transportation system for tourists.