Violence against women is not uncommon in the Parque das Tribos, an indigenous neighborhood in Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas.
“I’ve experienced a lot as a leader,” says Lutana Ribeiro, a member of the Kokama ethnic group and the only female chief in Parque das Tribos, where around 4,500 people live. “Women are knocking on my door asking for help.”
Sparsely populated and relatively isolated in terms of air, road and sea access, the state of Amazonas faces unique challenges in accessing public services, including sexual and reproductive health support and responding to gender-based violence.
Enormous increase in murders of women
Every minute in 2021, at least one person called the national police emergency number in Brazil to report domestic violence. From 2016 to 2021, the femicide rate — defined as the willful killing of a woman motivated at least in part by her gender — reportedly increased by over 44 percent, with one in seven women dying as a result of femicide every hour..
In the state of Amazonas, more than one in five women intentionally killed by another person was a case of femicide.
Ms. Ribeiro, who is known in her community as a staunch human rights advocate, recently facilitated a series of workshops for survivors of gender-based violence, attended by 50 women from the area. “Few spoke on the first day. Most spoke today.”
The workshops, conducted by the UN Agency for Reproductive and Sexual Health, UNFPAexamined different types of violence and explained how to access local social support networks and available legal protection mechanisms.
These include the Maria da Penha law, which in 2006 amended Brazil’s Penal Code to allow attackers not only to be arrested for an act of violence against a woman or girl, but also to be imprisoned if there is a risk of committing one an act was considered a threat to a person’s life.
A safe space for women
Ms. Ribeiro described how keen the women were to share their experiences with each other and with the UNFPA team from the second day of the workshop. “After the first lecture, many women felt stronger. The next day people said “enough” to the violence. These men will no longer do what they want with them because women have more power now.”
The workshops aim to train women from Indigenous communities to spread life-saving information among their friends, family members and peers.
Children also participated in recreational activities so their mothers could participate. “The initiative was very important for us to keep growing and to have that support through dialogue and experience,” says Ms. Ribeiro.
“The workshops created a safe space for women to reflect together on the different forms of violence that affect their daily lives and on coping strategies,” says Débora Rodrigues, head of the UNFPA office in Manaus, “which includes the expansion of the Offer and access is part of services that guarantee protection and rights for the entire community of Parque das Tribos”.
With financial support from the United States Agency for International Development, UNFPA implements projects in the northern Brazilian states of Amazonas and Roraima to strengthen local capacities to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.
In 2022, more than 36,000 women and girls benefited from the initiative, with improved access to services such as shelters and safe spaces for survivors, and workshops that also engage men and boys.
Ms Ribeiro says participants in the Parque das Tribos workshop felt empowered together and reassured: “We as indigenous peoples are not afraid.”
