By Norma Sá, project assistant at Promundo-Brasil, and Danielle Lopes,
project coordinator at Promundo-Brasil.
15 years ago, Brazil established May 18th as the National Day to Combat Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents. The date was defined due to a brutal crime that took place in 1973: the kidnapping, rape and murder of 8-year-old girl Araceli Sanches. Even today, sexual violence affects thousands of Brazilian girls and boys every year, despite the growing mobilization of governments and civil society to combat this type of violence.
More recently, a new actor has approached this cause: companies of different sizes and sectors of activity. When established in a territory, a large company or a large project acts in a decisive way on the local context. In addition to the expected changes in the job market, other issues are significant, although little discussed. What could a considerable increase in the number of men in a city mean – in terms of impact on gender relations? Twenty thousand, for example, even if this arrival takes place over four, five years? In areas with such an impactful growth in the flow of workers, there are reports, for example, of an increase in the feeling of insecurity for women on public roads, the existence of tensions and situations of violence between local men and migrants and a perception of an increase in cases of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (ESCA).
Pacts, letters of intent, declarations and many other documents that point to the guarantee of human rights and, especially, the human rights of children and adolescents, have gained strength along with the Corporate Social Responsibility guidelines. By signing these documents, companies are beginning to discuss their role in light of the high impact, in this case negative, of their actions.
Among other initiatives, it is also in this field that Promundo has been collaborating to combat ESCA. Firstly, we consider that research with a strong methodological apparatus is still needed to demonstrate the real impacts of a project or work by a large company in these cities that receive or suffer its influences. Due to the enormous fragility of reporting and reporting this type of violence, in many of these cities, there are, as we said, only perceptions that attribute the increase in ESCA to the presence of a greater number of men in the locality.
The challenges are even greater because old problems remain: the gender norms that underpin ESCA practices make it difficult for perpetrators, the Child and Adolescent Protection Network itself, and communities to recognize this violence. Research carried out by Promundo in 2009 shows that there is a tendency to naturalize certain situations of sexual exploitation of adolescents (both by men and women) or even to blame the victims – 41% of men in Rio de Janeiro and 46% of Women stated that they consider the act to be “teenage prostitution” and not sexual exploitation. Furthermore, 48% of those who said they had already had a relationship with girls between the ages of 12 and 17 did so as a way of feeling young. Although the vulnerabilities of children and adolescents to sexual exploitation are not only related to unequal gender norms, We believe that reflecting on men's involvement in preventing and combating this violence by questioning these norms is fundamental in the initiatives of companies linked to the infrastructure sector and in the work with the Protection Network.
Furthermore, highly complex social problems require the articulation of different actors so that they can be addressed. It is important that prevention and coping actions are carried out in partnership with various organizations, whether public, private, civil society, community, as well as families and children and adolescents themselves, which increases the possibilities of being more effective and comprehensive.
Proactively, companies must map the negative impacts of their actions, whether environmental, social or economic, and plan measures to mitigate these impacts. Acting in advance of the problem reduces risks arising from rights violations, facilitates coordination with communities/interested parties and enables the planning of preventive actions. It is essential to build guidelines for the management of this issue by the company and involve construction workers, Social Responsibility professionals, communities and Protection Network institutions to discuss and transform tolerance and the naturalization of ESCA and the role of men in these practices.
We have noticed that holding forums, workshops and seminars involving representatives of public health services, education, social assistance, Guardianship and Rights Councils, among others, have contributed to social institutions being able to question their own structure and with the participants of its services gender norms that sustain inequalities and violence, such as ESCA.
We are proposing the adoption of an approach and language that invites dialogue and partnership whether in campaigns, educational materials, awareness-raising workshops or mobilizations of communities and workers. Because, as a worker stated during a workshop, “We don't need morals and civics, but reflection on the way of being a man. It is not to blame, but to think together.”
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