A/HRC/31/56/Add.1 drug legislation enable police to discriminate against and criminalize people with a certain ethno-social profile. Afro-Brazilians found in possession of drugs are often charged with the more serious crime of trafficking, while their white counterparts may be charged with possession, or simply given a warning. Prison statistics attest to this reality. Since 2005, the year before the Drug Law (11.343/2006) was passed, the number of people jailed for drugrelated offences increased by 344.8 per cent. Indeed, 63 per cent of women and 25 per cent of men in prison today are there because of drug-related crimes.9 Given the high proportion of Afro-Brazilians incarcerated, the nexus is clear. In this context, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that article 28 of the Drug Law is currently under consideration by the Supreme Court, which may result in the decriminalization of drugs possession for personal use. 55. The Special Rapporteur is alarmed at the proposed constitutional amendment currently pending in Congress to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 years of age. The Special Rapporteur notes that, should the bill be passed into law, it will not only contravene the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, but will also have immediate impacts on Afro-Brazilian youth, and perpetuate the criminalization of Afro-Brazilian community. 56. Communities also voiced their concerns about the portrayal of Afro-Brazilians as criminals in the media, which also serves to justify the use of lethal force for alleged involvement in criminal gangs. Concerns were also raised about the concentration of mainstream media in the hands of few, and that Afro-Brazilian journalists are rarely able to penetrate these monopolies to provide alternative narratives to the dominant discourse. C. Social and economic conditions 57. Regrettably, poverty in Brazil continues to have a colour. Of the 16.2 million people living in extreme poverty, 70.8 per cent are Afro-Brazilian.10 The average wages for AfroBrazilian Brazilians are 2.4 times lower than those earned by citizens of white and Asian origin. Of the illiterate, 80 per cent are Afro-Brazilians, and 64 per cent of Afro-Brazilians have not completed basic education. The Special Rapporteur also notes the situation of extreme disadvantage experienced in favela and periferia communities, which are often dominated by Afro-Brazilians. For youth in such neighbourhoods, limited access to quality education, a lack of community and leisure spaces, high rates of school dropout and of crime mean that youth have few ambitions or life perspectives. Living on the margins of society, residents reported that they felt that their communities were forgotten and being completely left behind. 58. In favela Santa Marta the Special Rapporteur observed the impact of the presence of Police Pacification Police Units (UPPs), public security initiatives deployed to take back control of areas from criminal gangs. The presence of the Units has contributed to reducing certain crime rates. Yet the Special Rapporteur was concerned at the fact that the Units were the sole government initiative in the favela. The Units, while remaining heavily armed and continuing to carry out policing functions, also administer social services and educational programmes. As police agents of the State, the Units are not well placed, nor adequately trained, to carry out such social functions. The Special Rapporteur warns that, as the number of Units increases across Brazil, this may contribute to the further militarization of favela-dwellers lives. The establishment of Units must therefore be counterbalanced by 9 10 12 See www.cnj.jus.br/files/conteudo/arquivo/2015/11/080f04f01d5b0efebfbcf06d050dca34.pdf. Síntese dos Indicadores Sociais – Uma Análise das Condições de Vida da População Brasileira 2010 (Instituto Brasiliero de Geografia e Esttastica, Rio de Janeiro, 2010).