Violence in Rio de Janeiro: Non-governmental Initiatives for Building Peace

The context of violence in Rio de Janeiro has long been studied and analysed by social scientists focused on criminology and social inequality as the root of several social phenomena. Attempting to explore these phenomena through different lenses, I bring the perspective of peace studies and human rights to examine the local context, investigating the role of civil society organisations and the public power as important actors in this scenario. I will apply some of the concepts provided by peace research and consider the human rights contribution in the attempt of constructing equal societies in order to analyse more carefully the context of Rio de Janeiro, a huge metropole with unique characteristics that result in a stereotype of a violent and irrecoverable situation, yet a beautiful and touristic city. In a peaceful movement of changing local realities and improving people’s lives, local NGOs play an essential role in raising awareness and collecting information in order to expose the situation to the public. They can be called ‘peace formers’, as they seek to create the conditions for minimal local change and to enable residents of poor communities to live their lives independently of the context they are in. By analysing academic and sources in the original language, this study summarises relevant milestones for the study of violence in Rio de Janeiro and proposes an investigation on the civil society initiatives to build positive peace.