By Arkady Petrov
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Health recorded 17,386 cases of violence between 2015 and 2017, in which the primary motivation was the victim’s homeless condition. The main groups affected are blacks (54.8 percent of the total), young people between 15 and 24 years old (38.1 percent) and heterosexuals (65.2 percent). Although women are a minority on the streets, according to censuses and surveys among this public, they represent 50.8 percent of the victims.
Although the majority of victims were registered as heterosexual, and homosexuals accounted for 2.9 percent of the cases, sexual orientation was not reported in 21 percent of the total.
The main type of violence suffered is physical abuse, recorded by 92.9 percent of the reported cases, while psychological and moral abuse reached 23.2 percent, sexual harassment, 3.9 percent, and torture, 3.8 percent — pointing out that more than one type of violence could have co-occurred. Most of the perpetrators are strangers (37 percent), followed by friends or acquaintances (33.7 percent), family members (6.1 percent), and the current partner (5.4 percent).
The data source is the Health Surveillance Secretariat’s epidemiological bulletin, released this month, based on records from the Brazilian Case Registry Database, a tool of the National Health System. However, the survey organizers caution against underreporting of cases. Therefore, the actual numbers may be much higher. It is an extremely vulnerable group, with little access to information, suffering from prejudice and, frequently, being attended only in severe cases.
Approximately seven percent of reports are related to self-inflicted injuries, which include suicide attempts or self-harm. “One of the reasons for the high reporting rate of self-harm may be the ongoing exposure to risk factors leading to psychological distress among homeless people. Alcohol and/or other drug abuse, unemployment, threats, and violence, as well as poor support networks, may propel this population to mental illness and psychological suffering — risk factors for self-inflicted death,” states the bulletin.
São Paulo, the country’s most populated city, accounts for the highest number of violence reports, followed by Salvador, Natal, Goiânia, Maceió, and Rio de Janeiro.
In addition to insults and attacks on this group, who are victims of beatings, stonings, and burning while sleeping, the onset of winter, lowering the temperature particularly in the Southeastern and Southern regions of the country, increases the number of hypothermia victims among the homeless.