Forced removals in the country are suspended until October 31 this year. The decision of the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Luís Roberto Barroso, made official this Thursday (30), ensures that, during this period, the 142,385 thousand families threatened with eviction in the country can remain in their homes.
In the decision, the minister asked the presidency of the Supreme Court to convene an extraordinary session of the virtual plenary to discuss the subject, and determined the summons of the Union, the Federal District and the states, as well as the presidency of the Courts of Justice and the Federal Regional Courts. , responsible for prosecuting eviction actions.
“The presidencies of the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate, the National Council of Human Rights and the National Council of Justice are also called upon for science”, adds the minister in the decision.
For Rud Rafael, from the national coordination of the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST), the ban on removals appears as “a landmark in the defense of human dignity in the context in which Brazil finds itself”.
The risk, in his view, was that the eviction of around half a million people in Brazil “would generate a social upheaval even greater than the crisis that is posed today”. To illustrate the scenario, Rud highlights the fourth wave of the covid-19 pandemic, the high inflation, the 33 million people going hungry and the growth of the homeless population.
“In a context in which the conflict over land in Brazil is getting worse – the brutal murder of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips shows this – it is necessary to resume the debate on urban and agrarian reform in the country”, defends the activist.
:: Hunger spreads in Brazil: 6 out of 10 families do not have full access to food ::
This is the third time that the suspension of evictions – a decision taken within the scope of ADPF (Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental) 828 due to the covid-19 pandemic – has been extended. First determined in June 2021, this time its term was scheduled to end this Thursday (30).
social pressure
A broad mobilization of social movements pressured, with street acts, interventions on social networks and meetings with ministers and parliamentarians, for the deadline to be extended.
Articulated around the Zero Eviction Campaign are the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), the Popular Fight Movement, the Popular Brigades, the MTST, the Union of Housing Movements (UMM), the Popular Movements Center (CMP) , the Movement for Struggles in Neighborhoods, Towns and Favelas (MLB), and the Front for the Fight for Housing (FLM).
:: The Occupation of the Queixadas, in Cajamar (SP), is one of the many that struggle to maintain housing ::
On June 21, demonstrations took place in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Ceará, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Roraima, Pará and Rio Grande do Sul. Shortly before, on June 15, a petition with more than 800 signatures was delivered to the Supreme Court.
In a note, the MST states that “far from being a specific or legal issue, evictions in Brazil are a structural problem in the countryside and in the city”.
Although the systemic problem has not been resolved, the approximately half a million people – among them 97,000 children and 95,000 elderly people, according to the Zero Eviction Campaign – will be able to start the month of July with the guarantee that they will have a roof over their heads.
Editing: Felipe Mendes
