Trees of Hope Symbolize Reduction of Killings in Pernambuco
Since May 2007 PE Body Count, an initiative started by local journalists, has been tracking every homicide occurrence in the North-Eastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, one of the most violent regions in the country. The project maintains a website which is updated on a daily basis including the names, personal details and circumstances of every victim of killing, also feeding them into an statistical database and virtual counter.
To celebrate the first reduction in the number of homicides since the counting started (approximately 500 killings less that in the same period of the previous year) PE Body Count and the Archdioceses for Olinda and Recife organized on the 3rd of January a symbolic event, in which one tree was planted at the Arcoverde Memorial Park for each life that has been “spared”. The initiative has been named “Bosque da Esperança” (Forest of Hope) and seeks to call upon local an regional authorities to continue with further actions to reduce killing so that each year more trees can be planted.
PE Body Count made it to international headlines in the past years as it took names and numbers to the streets. Past actions included painting body outlines on homicide scenes, planting wooden crosses on the beach with the names of each homicide victim or installing electronic street counters featuring daily, monthly and annual homicide figures. These campaigns had a strong impact on public opinion and state policies toward violence-prevention.
The state of Pernambuco, Brazil, is currently one of the most violent regions in the world. With a population of 8,734,194, at least 10 murders occur every day, generating the highest murder rate in the country. In fact, the state’s capital (Recife) homicide rate is higher than Iraq’s. Last year, 3,768 people were murdered in Pernambuco.
The Center for Global Nonkilling, through its partnership with the Federal University of Pernambuco and the Brazilian Institute for Nonkilling launched on December 22 the Brazilian edition of Nonkilling Global Political Science, by Glenn D. Paige. This new edition was released with the title Não matar é possível. Por uma nova ciência política global (ISBN 978-85-7315-673-7) and will soon be available for sale in all major Brazilian book retailers.
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