Wallace de Almeida v. Brazil (Report) IACHR (20 March 2009) Report No. 26/09

Wallace de Almeida, a young, Afro-descendant, Brazilian Army soldier, was murdered in a favela of Rio di Janeiro during a joint military police operation in the area to combat drug trafficking.   The Commission examined the case in the context of the escalation of military force in the area alongside allegations of racial discrimination, establishing a fact pattern of systematic human rights violations disproportionately affecting Afro-descendant youth.  The Commission further established the relative impunity enjoyed by the military police in the wake of such operations because of ineffective investigations.  The Commission held, based on the facts of the present case coupled with the context of the violence that the State violated the right to life—particularly egregious because of his young age (18 years)—including their failure to effectively investigate following the victim’s death.  Because Mr. de Almeida was alive following the shooting and the police failed to take immediate action, his suffering until death was cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment for which the State was held in breach of protecting him from.  The State’s failure to adequately investigate and provide reparations to the family was also in violation of the Convention.  Lastly, the State was held responsible for failure to provide equal protection before the law for Mr. de Almeida and his treatment and lack of care by the authorities was a result of a long-established pattern of discrimination towards Afro-descendant youth in Brazil.