Concern over “systematic racism” as a central driver of institutional violence

The violent security operation in Brazil has revived the discussion around the racist component of security policies and police conduct. The situation is also replicated in Europe and the US.

Within the broad framework of debates on institutional violence around the world, one of the issues of greatest concern is the strong racist component at play in these practices. Hatred based on race, ethnicity or identity becomes a highly complex factor when it turns into a systematic element on the part of state institutions, especially in policing. The phenomenon is the subject of a long-standing discussion, but cases that have gained international prominence in recent years have once again raised the concern of human rights organizations.

The most recent and striking example was the security operation carried out in Rio de Janeiro in the fight against the criminal organization Comando Vermelho. With a toll of more than 100 killings (many of them civilians), international organizations expressed their rejection of the excessive use of force by the Government. Meanwhile, Amnesty International (AI) spoke out once again on the matter and underlined the pattern of “racist policies” in Brazil in the areas of security, the fight against drugs and organized crime. 

The international organization emphasized the many warnings from human rights organizations about the systematically racist nature of the so-called “war on drugs” in that country. The death toll of the so-called “Operation Containment,” mostly among Black and poor populations, raised AI’s concern about the systematic racism that has already been seen in other operations of this kind. Amnesty also noted how, after the repressive action, the Rio de Janeiro authorities sought to criminalize local residents who tried to locate and identify the bodies of those killed.

In December 2024, Rio de Janeiro was also the scene of this kind of problem when the Unified Black Movement organized a large demonstration repudiating the killing of a man by members of the Military Police of Diadema. The officers had thrown the victim off a bridge in Cidade Ademar. The incident once again sparked denunciations of police violence against the Black population. 

Racist police violence in the US and Europe

The discussion is replicated in Europe and the United States. The emblematic case of George Floyd in the US (whose killing was captured on video, gained worldwide attention and gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement) was one of the most critical moments of recent years. In response to this case, UNESCO released a report in 2020 analyzing how institutional violence manifests itself not only in areas such as policing but also in spaces such as education. There are various cases of universities that have developed anti-discrimination protocols for this reason. 

In Europe, the discussion has also gained relevance in recent years. A report released in 2018 by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights revealed that more than 60% of victims of racist violence by the police did not report the incident, either out of fear or because they believed that reporting it would achieve nothing. According to the report, in a survey of 25,000 people from racial or migrant minorities in Europe, 14% said they had been stopped by the police during 2015 and 2016.

The situation in Argentina

The situation is replicated in various parts of Latin America. The United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination turned its attention to Argentina in 2023. It warned about how the country’s security forces resorted in practice to “racial profiling,” with a particular effect on people of African descent, Indigenous peoples and migrants. 

One of the cases that generated the most public reaction was the incident involving Argentine actor Oscar “Osqui” Guzmán, victim of a police assault on the street after being “mistaken” for a thief. The incident occurred when the facial recognition system used by the Federal Police flagged Guzmán as a criminal, leading officers to beat and detain him. The actor denounced that the incident was driven by “the color of his skin,” which sparked immediate condemnation. 

The African Diaspora of Argentina (DIAFAR) has worked to bring this issue into debate in the media and in public spaces in Argentina. The racist component in cases of institutional violence in Argentina came to the fore especially in 2020, when the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued its first ruling on a racist motive in an act of police violence. The Inter-American Court’s ruling concerned the killing of the young Afro-descendant man Delfín Acosta Martínez, who died after a beating by police officers in 1996.

Guillermo Whpei

President of Fundación para la Democracia