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1. Resistance to Authoritarianism: Lessons Learned from Brazilian Civil Society

Author:
Melina Risso, Renata Avelar Gianini, and Camila Nadalini de Godoy
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Igarapé Institute
Abstract:
This study aims to encourage debate and strengthen democratic organizations and civil society that defend civic space against attempts to weaken the system of checks and balances that sustain democracy, silence dissenting voices and ideas, co-opt law enforcement agencies, and dismantle public policies to consolidate an authoritarian state. It was developed based on a comprehensive literature review, media coverage analysis, and 18 in-depth interviews with key actors involved in the study’s topics, including civil society, funders, and government officials. The work is divided into six parts. The first part presents the definitions used to develop this study and examines the political context. The following four parts analyze four cases encompassing the main tools used by civil society to defend democracy and combat democratic erosion, highlighting the results achieved. The sixth and final part details essential points of attention for maintaining, strengthening, and continuously promoting a robust civic space and a solid democracy in Brazil. As the authoritarian threats to closing the space for civil society participation are still present nationally and internationally, the initiatives cited here are expected to inspire and guide future initiatives of resistance and protection of civic space in promoting democracy.
Topic:
Civil Society, Authoritarianism, Democracy, and Civil Resistance
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

2. Guide for the Social Inclusion of Formerly Incarcerated Individuals

Author:
Melina Risso, Vivian Calderoni, Camila Nadalini de Godoy, Carolina Loeb, Marina Alkmim, and Julia Quirino
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Igarapé Institute
Abstract:
The social inclusion of formerly incarcerated individuals is a global challenge that requires reforms in the justice system, strengthening of the rule of law, and the implementation of specific public policies. This guide presents a synthesis of strategies adopted by programs on the topic in different countries, including Brazil, which can serve as a model for implementing and improving initiatives nationwide. Brazil ranks third in the world in the absolute number of incarcerated individuals, reflecting social, racial, and educational inequalities present in its prison population and highlighting the selectivity of the justice system, which tends to predominantly imprison young, low-educated Black individuals. Upon release, former prisoners face numerous challenges, such as difficulty accessing support and assistance programs due to limited availability, which is generally concentrated in capital cities. It is necessary to invest in overcoming this scenario by implementing and improving programs and strategies, considering regional specificities and significant variations in incarceration rates among states. Without preparation and material, financial, psychological, and social support, the challenges for social reintegration become often insurmountable obstacles. This not only makes communities more insecure but also contributes to criminal recidivism, establishing a vicious cycle of crime and social rejection. This guide was developed to support the reversal of this scenario by adopting a rights-guarantee perspective. Its objective is to assist in the implementation and improvement of initiatives directed at the social inclusion of formerly incarcerated individuals across the country. Based on the analysis of 123 national and international programs for the attention of former prisoners, this document presents the purposes of these programs and details the strategies adopted.
Topic:
Prisons/Penal Systems, Inequality, Public Policy, Labor Market, Inclusion, Reintegration, and Criminal Recidivism
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

3. Social Reintegration of Former Inmates: Networked Strategies for Promoting Public Policies and Strengthening Civil Society Organizations

Author:
Melina Risso, Vivian Calderoni, Camila Nadalini de Godoy, Carolina Loeb, Marina Alkmim, and Julia Quirino
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Igarapé Institute
Abstract:
The social reintegration process for former inmates presents challenges that extend beyond the confines of the justice system alone. In the Brazilian context, marked by regional disparities and social, racial, and educational inequalities, the lack of material, financial, and psychosocial support places ex-inmates in a cycle of social rejection and criminality. The deficiency of adequate investments, exacerbated by an emphasis on punishment over post-release reintegration, intensifies these challenges. Thus, it underscores the importance of networked collaboration among public, private, and civil society sectors to optimize resource use, promote integrated solutions, and overcome obstacles in assisting former inmtes, providing multidimensional support for social reintegration. This report outlines the strategies of five network-based initiatives aimed at former inmates, implemented both in Brazil and globally. The document details how these initiatives contribute to strengthening the social reintegration of former inmates and illustrates how they can serve as models to inspire other coordinated actions in the same field. Social reintegration of former inmates and its related concepts used here synonymously – such as (re)insertion, (re)inclusion, (res)socialization, (re)education, (re)adaptation, and (re)habilitation – should be seen as a priority not only by the criminal justice system but by all stakeholders who may have a direct or indirect influence on this process. It is a global challenge that requires reforms in the justice system, strengthening the rule of law, and implementing specific public policies focused on the various challenges these individuals face in their resocialization process, including aspects such as social interaction, employment opportunities, and access to housing, health, and education. This study acknowledges that the pursuit of social reintegration should be approached from the perspective of ensuring rights and not limited to the view of security and reducing criminal recidivism. This principle was adopted based on the recognition that the criminal justice system is an environment that creates and perpetuates inequalities for the individuals within it. Therefore, ensuring the rights that were denied before, during, and after incarceration is essential for effective social reintegration. Interventions and programs with multiple approaches for this group are rarely accessible, limited to sporadic opportunities to access essential services. In Brazil, which ranks as the third country worldwide in terms of the absolute number of incarcerated individuals, there is a significant variation in incarceration rates across states, which highlights the regional disparities. The composition of Brazil’s prison population also reflects social, racial, and educational inequalities, emphasizing the selective nature of a justice system which imprisons a disproportionate number of black, young, and uneducated people.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Human Rights, Prisons/Penal Systems, Inequality, Reintegration, and Criminal Recidivism
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, and Global Focus

4. Follow the money: connecting anti-money laundering systems to disrupt environmental crime in the Amazon

Author:
Melina Risso, Carolina Andrade Quevedo, Lycia Brasil, Vivian Calderoni, and Maria Fe Vallejo
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Igarapé Institute
Abstract:
Environmental crime became the world’s third most lucrative illicit economy after drug trafficking and smuggling, with estimates of $110 to $281 billion in annual profits. Between 2006 and 2016, environmental crimes grew at a rate of 5% to 7% per year, a pace two or three times faster than that of global GDP growth. Money laundering is part of the criminal machinery that plunders the Amazon Rainforest. The study “Follow the Money: connecting anti-money laundering systems to disrupt environmental crime in the amazon” reveals the need for systems, agencies, and institutions responsible for preventing money laundering to turn their attention to the connections between this illicit practice and environmental crimes. The Igarapé study shows that the money laundering cycle follows three stages before the laundered funds can enter the financial system: placement, layering, and integration. However, not all proceeds from criminal activity are directly laundered into the formal financial system. Thus, informal diversification constitutes the process of moving illegal flows into the informal economy. It is estimated that 30% of the money to be laundered is used to pay the operating expenses of illicit economies. Cash transactions, divided into small amounts and deposited by “money mules,” are used to finance the hiring of precarious labor, accommodations, food, security, transportation, health services, leisure, and machinery, for example. The remaining 70% of illicit proceeds are formally inserted into the financial system. The study also recalls that the World Bank estimated in 2019 that governments lose between 6 and 9 billion dollars in tax revenue each year due to illegal logging. Similarly, other environmental crimes such as illegal mining, especially of gold and diamonds, generate between 12 and 48 billion dollars in revenue. In 2018, Interpol’s Global Illicit Flows Atlas found that illegal logging accounted for a percentage between 15% and 30% of the global timber trade, calculated between 51 billion and 152 billion dollars per year. The illegal logging industry is responsible for up to 90% of deforestation of tropical forests in African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Combating illicit financial flows is a powerful tool for dismantling illegal economies. It becomes even more relevant when it is identified that illicit financial flows fuel an ecosystem of environmental crime composed of a convergence of environmental and non-environmental crimes, such as corruption, fraud, tax evasion, and others.
Topic:
Security, Environment, Financial Crimes, Money Laundering, and Illicit Financial Flows
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, and Amazon Basin

5. Illegal Gold That Undermines Forests and Lives in the Amazon: An Overview of Irregular Mining and its Impacts on Indigenous Populations

Author:
Melina Risso, Julia Sekula, Lycia Brasil, Peter Schmidt, and Maria Eduarda Pessoa de Assis
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Igarapé Institute
Abstract:
The Brazilian Amazon is rife with illegal gold mining operations, with 321 identified points of illegal, active and inactive mines arranged in the 9 states that comprise the Brazilian Amazon Basin. This devastation has a price — according to Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutors Office, 1kg of gold represents roughly R$1.7m in environmental damages, culminating in an environmental cost roughly 10 times greater than the current price of gold. The Amazon is nearing its critical ‘tipping point’, beyond which both the Amazon biome and our global climate will suffer irreversible damages. As such, discussions on illegal mining in the Brazilian Amazon present two interrelated challenges: combating deforestation and protecting the distinct cultures of indigenous populations, who constitute the forests’ principal environmental defenders. Considering the urgency of the discussion, the Igarapé Institute launches the publication Illegal Gold That Undermines Forests and Lives in the Amazon: An Overview of Irregular Mining and its Impacts on Indigenous Populations. The article presents urgent recommendations, in the short and long term, to avoid an irreversible climatic collapse, in which the preservation of the Amazon rainforest plays a fundamental role.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Natural Resources, Culture, Mining, Indigenous, and Ecology
Political Geography:
Brazil and Latin America

6. Environmental Crime in the Amazon Basin: A Typology for Research, Policy and Action

Author:
Adriana Abdenur, Brodie Ferguson, Ilona Szabo de Carvalho, Melina Risso, and Robert Muggah
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Igarapé Institute
Abstract:
According to the world’s top scientific experts, deforestation and degradation are up 25 percent in the first six months compared to last year. More forests are being cleared in 2020 than at any point in the past 15 years. Although spectacular levels of illegal burning have occupied global headlines, a host of other less visible but equally significant environmental crimes are being committed throughout the Amazon basin every day. Such crimes not only impact biodiversity and the global climate, but are virtually always associated with social ills ranging from corruption to slavery and violence. A new paper from the Igarape Institute – Environmental Crime in the Amazon Basin: a Typology for Research, Policy and Action – introduces a typology to help better understand the scope and scale of the problem and its extensive social and environmental impacts. To date, one of the principal barriers to better policing of the Amazon is the confusion and ambiguity of what is, and is not, a crime. Different countries apply different interpretations which can frustrate investigations and the enforcement of existing laws. The new paper is designed to provide greater clarity to policy makers, law enforcement agencies, civil society actors, and companies committed to curbing environmental crime.
Topic:
Crime, Environment, Public Policy, Ecology, and Deforestation
Political Geography:
Brazil, Latin America, and Amazon Basin