E/CN.4/1996/72/Add.1 page 8 and former slaves in the eighteenth century. Finally, the same phenomenon is found in the State of São Paolo, on the old coffee plantations closest to the coast, which prospered in the time of slavery; in that state, the African element of the population is occasionally strengthened by immigration from Bahia. 19. On the other hand, in the states of the South, Paraná, Santa Catarina and especially Rio Grande do Sul, the African element is so diluted that it is often hardly perceptible. There have never been many Blacks in Rio Grande do Sul, where the predominant activity, stock-raising, required a very small labour force and the harsh climate was not conducive to Black settlement. The population in that region is close to the purely European type. In the interbreeding that does exist, however, the Indian element is much more significant than the African; it has had a greater impact than colour on European facial features. 20. Similarly, people of African descent do not appear to be very numerous in western Brazil, or especially in the North, but the Indian racial type is found there in greater numbers than anywhere else, and the Portuguese-Indian mix, in the Amazon region in particular, is often the predominant type. B. Political overview 21. Brazil’s recent history has been marked by a succession of military dictatorships. From 1889, the date of the overthrow of the Empire, to 1982, when democracy was established, the military have had a very strong hold over the country’s political life. The 1988 Constitution, the outcome of a hard-fought struggle by the Brazilian people, is manifestation of an unprecedented democratic revival; it guarantees the effective operation of the federal and local political institutions while safeguarding the people’s rights and fundamental freedoms. Accordingly, the Government headed by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who was elected in October 1994, is endeavouring to reduce the social inequalities that threaten the stability of the State and to resolve the problem of access to land for large numbers of small farmers faced with the monopoly of land tenure by the major landowners. C. Human rights overview 22. The 1988 Constitution guarantees civil and political as well as the generally recognized economic, social and cultural rights. Brazil is also a party to numerous regional and international instruments, including the American Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Slavery Convention, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 23. Brazil’s recent human rights situation, however, has featured massacres of street children - in particular the massacre of seven children of between 11 and 19 years of age in front of the Candelaria church in the centre of Rio de Janeiro in 1993 - by death squads with well documented links with