Cases of femicide are once again shocking the country. The reaction is known: indignant speeches and crazy promises. Lula talks about talking to Congress and the Supreme Court about regulating misogynistic content on the Internet, and conservative sectors are calling for tougher sanctions.
However, there is a lack of long-term pragmatic realism. International evidence and experiences show the way forward to contain violence against women.
Brazil already has a good regulatory system in this regard, recognized internationally. The unavoidable problem is its chronic weakness in the management of scarce resources. Yes, the fight against femicide, as against other ills of the country, goes through the public budget. But the left – which in fact demands effective and proven actions – pretends to ignore, for ideological reasons, this essential element.
It’s not just about knowing what to do, but how to do it.
This year’s UN report highlights measures to contain femicide: primary prevention accompanied by education; agile response from the penal system, with specialized units; multi-agency approach between police, health, social services and justice; collection of data and statistics from continuous monitoring.
Such actions are necessary because femicide is the culmination of a progressive process of domestic violence.
But the structural rigidity of the Brazilian budget – high weight of mandatory spending, continued growth in current spending and low discretionary fiscal space – directly affects the state’s ability to implement such policies.
With a large proportion of resources devoted to financing (salaries, maintenance, pensions) and social benefits, there is little room for innovative cross-cutting programs, which depend on technical training, infrastructure and technology – the same mechanism that keeps the country’s educational indicators at poor levels, for example.
Without deep reforms, such as administrative and social security reforms, Brazil will continue to be trapped in this pernicious cycle of deaths, outrage and empty promises.
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