The first thought that comes to mind when talking about going to Rio de Janeiro is that the sun will accompany you the whole time; as soon as we land we are greeted by a fine drizzle. It's the 17th of January, and we're starting off seven days of filming with a team from Informe Semanal, the oldest show on Spanish television.

The initial impression is one of endless public works: highways, bridges, tunnels... the work on the underground has the western part of the city paralysed, precisely our road to Cidade de Deus, the mythic neighbourhood in the Jacarepaguá zone two kilometres from the main Olympic park for the games. It was made famous in 2002 by the film by Fernando Meirelles. Beyond the film, Cidade de Deus is a neighbourhood that has pacified and unpacified zones; there is still a presence by drug traffickers and the militia, and the Pacification Police Unit (known as the UPP in Portuguese) is trying to control at least the pacified zones. Taquera, Tanque and Morro de Covanca are the scenes of the daily confrontations or interventions by the BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) shown on Globo TV's morning news. We are on the fine line between reality and fiction.

In the middle of all this sits the “House of Rights”, an oasis of justice in the midst of social exclusion. Its concept, its integrated services, and its social and political commitment have made the Casa de Direitos (in Portuguese) a model of bringing citizenship and justice to a vulnerable population. A project that has come to stay in the State of Rio and other states in the country (there is already a replica in Maceió, Alegoas). The image of Cidade de Deus no doubt changed as a result of the film; to wit, Obama visited the neighbourhood in 2011. Nevertheless, the life of its residents would be better if they had the opportunity to resolve their disputes, report trafficking of persons and labour exploitation, receive legal assistance in cases of gender violence, and, something that would seem simple anywhere else, obtain the documentation that would allow them to be registered with the State.

“Even though we are in a pacified zone, sometimes there are confrontations between narcos and the militia. But a bullet has never hit the House of Rights”, a user turned community worker tells us. Here in Cidade de Deus, in a zone of apartment buildings, everyone respects the House of Rights, a reality that we will see on the small screen shortly.

Parada de Lucas inaccessible

Quarta feira, Wednesday. It's still raining in Rio, and we head for the north of the city. Waiting for us there is Marcelle, who collaborates with the Secretariat of Justice of Rio. She's a member of a group called Youth Forum of Rio de Janeiro and an Amnesty International volunteer. On her T-shirt you can read the following slogan: “o futuro da favela depende do fruto que tu for plantar” (the future of the favela depends on what fruit you plant there).

In Brazil there is a serious problem of violence against black youth that is getting worse in vulnerable neighbourhoods, communities or favelas like those we visited in Rio. Official statistics put the chances that a young black person will be a victim of violence at 3.7 times that of a young white.

Parada de Lucas is the name of a train station that gives its name to the favela that rises at its feet. With Marcelle we try to enter its unpacified streets. At 20 metres, some residents advise us not to; 20 metres farther on are the drug dealers' guards, who dissuade us from trying. It's an unpacified favela, not easy to enter at first. Its streets are scenarios of racial violence. At least six people per day died in confrontations with the Brazilian police in 2013.

On 4th January 2016, the Diário Oficial da União (official state journal) published a joint resolution by the Police High Council to abolish the use of the terms “auto de resistência” and “resistência seguida de morte” in police reports across the nation. The “auto de resistência” consists (or consisted) of legal authorisation for police officers to take lives in cases in which the individual targeted in the police action resisted arrest, exempting the agent from any type of investigation into the legality of this conduct.

For the first time in Brazil, fighting violence against black youth is being treated as a public policy in the justice system, placing the issue of racial discrimination on the agenda.

“Sou brasileira”

On the fourth day of filming, we go to downtown Rio de Janeiro to learn about the Brazilian justice system from the inside: the Court of Justice of the State of Rio. The gender violence courts are located on the eleventh floor. 

A young black woman has just come out of one of the courtrooms. She hears the outcome of her case and serenely replies “estou bem, sou brasileira” (I'm fine, I'm Brazilian). That very afternoon she returns to her job as an urban sanitation worker, right on the avenue where the Petrobras headquarters stands in Rio.

The problem of violence against women in Brazil is shocking: 4.8 femicides per 100,000 inhabitants (source: Flacso), putting it in fifth place worldwide on the bleak list created by the WHO. The Public Prosecutor's Office, in coordination with the police, is incorporating the gender perspective into the investigation of crimes of violence against women to effectively fight against the impunity of gender violence and guarantee the victims adequate protection and legal recourse.

Olympic fire

Different forms of justice that we will see through the lens of a Televisión Española camera, but all with a common element: making justice universal and accessible to all Brazilians, female and male.

On 5th August 2016, the Olympic torch will be lit in the mythic Maracaná stadium, kicking off the 30th Olympic Games of the modern era; at this same hour the sun will go down for all the protagonists of the story in Cidade de Deus, downtown Rio, Parada de Lucas, and Morro de la Providencia. Sixteen days later, Rio will wake up without Olympic Games, and its residents will go on fighting for their rights.

Enrique Martínez, periodista, responsable de comunicación de EUROsociAL