Brasília, February 13, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Secretariat of Human Rights, in partnership with the Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality and the Secretariat of Policies for Women, launched the Human Rights Call Center yesterday (12).

According to the Minister of the Secretariat of Human Rights, Nilmário Miranda, the number "100" should be available in a few weeks. A call center will be set up with specialists to receive denunciations of racism, torture, executions, death squads, homophobia, violence against women, and sexual abuse of and violence against children and adolescents.

Stickers will be placed on public phones to inform the number and encourage the population to call.

According to Miranda, the idea is to unify similar services and facilitate access. "There are call centers to denounce torture, to denounce violence against women, there are many call centers throughout the country, but they are not well known and they are little used in light of the real violations in Brazil," he explained. (DAS)