Every Three Days, the Brazilian Government Receives a Complaint of Religious Intolerance

06/29/2015 - 09h10

Every three days, on average, a complaint of religious intolerance arrives at the Presidency's Office for Human Rights.

Between 2011 and 2014, 504 complaints of the type were filed through Disque 100-a reporting outlet for human rights violations that informs the police and the public prosecutor.

The federal government recognizes that religious intolerance, in practice, tends to be higher than reported-and that scenes such as that of the 11 year old girl who received a blow to the head with a rock upon leaving a candomblé yard in Vila da Penha, in the north zone of Rio, are far from being isolated incidents.

In 2013, 45 episodes of religious intolerance involved physical violence (20% of the year's cases). By July 2014, another 18 had been registered (12%).

Followers of religions of African origin (candomblé and umbanda) are the most common targets in reports of religious intolerance received by the service-with one third of episodes relating that detail.

The list of those affected spares no type of faith. Although in smaller numbers, spiritualists, catholics, jews, muslims and even rastafarians appear in the office records obtained by Folha. During the last four years, even atheists were not spared.

According to the director of the National Human Rights Committee, Irina Bacci, the phenomenon is not new, but does experience spikes.

"You cannot separate intolerance of all types from religious intolerance", she says. "Perhaps, due to the authoritative discourse of certain groups in Brazilian society, other groups suffer increasingly more targeted cruelty."

Translated by SUGHEY RAMIREZ

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	Erbs Jr./Frame/Folhapress
	Protest against religious intolerance in Rio de Janeiro