Milano School
Interviewing the Enemy?
Photographer: Emma Saloranta
Yuri, a 10 year old boy who participated in the Media and Child Rights course in Cidade de Deus, conducting an interview with the chief of the UPP. UPP, the 'Pacifying Police Unit', is Rio de Janeiro's latest attempt to keep the drug traffickers out of the favelas. The UPP goes into a favela and remains in the community, 'pacifying' it and forcing the traffickers to stay out. Even though the drug trafficking has gone down and the life in Cidade de Deus has changed after the UPP entered, many favela residents still find it hard to trust the police and the government and feel that the traffickers with their guns were just replaced with police officers with guns, and that the situation is not any better now than it was before the UPP. Yuri, along with a group of other children participating in the course, conducted a great interview with the chief of UPP in Cidade de Deus, asking the chief questions ranging from the state of education in Cidade de Deus to his thoughts about children who are selling drugs in the streets. For most of the children in the group, this was the first time they ever actually interacted with the UPP. More of this type of interaction is desperately needed between the UPP officers and the people living in the communities where UPP is present, so that UPP can stop being the enemy and start working together with the residents to build the favelas into better, safer and more stable communities.
Interviewing the Enemy?
Photographer: Emma Saloranta
Yuri, a 10 year old boy who participated in the Media and Child Rights course in Cidade de Deus, conducting an interview with the chief of the UPP. UPP, the 'Pacifying Police Unit', is Rio de Janeiro's latest attempt to keep the drug traffickers out of the favelas. The UPP goes into a favela and remains in the community, 'pacifying' it and forcing the traffickers to stay out. Even though the drug trafficking has gone down and the life in Cidade de Deus has changed after the UPP entered, many favela residents still find it hard to trust the police and the government and feel that the traffickers with their guns were just replaced with police officers with guns, and that the situation is not any better now than it was before the UPP. Yuri, along with a group of other children participating in the course, conducted a great interview with the chief of UPP in Cidade de Deus, asking the chief questions ranging from the state of education in Cidade de Deus to his thoughts about children who are selling drugs in the streets. For most of the children in the group, this was the first time they ever actually interacted with the UPP. More of this type of interaction is desperately needed between the UPP officers and the people living in the communities where UPP is present, so that UPP can stop being the enemy and start working together with the residents to build the favelas into better, safer and more stable communities.