II - The Social Area

Social Security
Health
Education
Employment
Agrarian Reform
Community Solidarity
Culture
Environment
National Defense
Human Rights
Indigenous Issues

We achieved our successes in the economic area without forgetting about social policy. We have presented data showing the impact of stabilization on the well-being of the population. However, these results do not free the State from the need to restructure itself and to promote specific social policies.

The government has had a series of accomplishments in the social area: reducing significantly infant mortality; developing the National Human Rights Program (Programa Nacional de Direitos Humanos), the first of its kind in Latin America; and resettling 100,000 families and expropriating three million hectares of land in just two years. The social security system increased the average value and number of benefits paid. The Minimum Income Program (Programa de Renda Mínima), which this administration implemented, is quite active. Legislation passed at the initiative of Congress guarantees the rights of children and adolescents. The government is endeavoring to eliminate slave and child labor. We have nearly completed the demarcation of Indigenous lands. The administration has again taken up the issues of blacks and women. We have accomplished all this in an environment of complete democracy and total freedom.

Social security

Social security benefits grew much faster than inflation. The average benefit increased, in real terms, 39% between 1994 and 1996. This 39% increase, given the stable currency, is worth much more than an adjustment increase because of an unstable currency. Inflation and an unstable currency begin reducing the purchasing power of an increase as soon as the beneficiary receives the money. With a stable currency, this does not occur: the increase represents a genuine rise in the beneficiary's purchasing power.

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In 1995, there were 1,983,000 new social security beneficiaries and, in 1996, 2,182,000. Subtracting the cancellations and discontinuances due to death and other causes, the net increase in social security beneficiaries in 1996 was around 800,000. These numbers demonstrate that the social security burden is very large in that both the average benefit value and the number of beneficiaries are growing. In spite of all the government's efforts to avoid a deficit, social security reform is becoming ever more urgent. Without this reform, Brazil could have serious difficulties guaranteeing the continued payment of benefits over the medium term.

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Another important aspect of social security is the Minimum Income Program (Programa de Renda Mínima), which was approved by Congress and implemented during our administration. The program assists 280,000 physically handicapped people, 40,000 senior citizens, and 340,000 children and adolescents. Moreover, we have already initiated the "Child Citizen" scholarship program (bolsa "Criança Cidadã"), which seeks to eliminate child labor in the coal mines of Mato Grosso do Sul (560 scholarships). Soon it should be extended to children who work in the sugar fields of Pernambuco and in the sisal plantations of Bahia.

The program's objective is to provide an income to those who do not have one and who have never contributed to the social security system. The government reaffirms its obligation to support these people because they are Brazilian citizens. In this manner, the welfare system fulfills a redistributive function. In other words, it takes from those who have and gives to those who have little or nothing.

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Health

The administration has made good progress in decentralizing health services. The number of municipalities benefiting from the Unified Health Service (Serviço Único de Saúde — SUS) reached 3,078 in 1996, which means that 61.85% of all Brazilian municipalities are now included in the program. The number of health centers also grew significantly, reaching 3,031 during 1996. The introduction of SUS requires the full participation of society in creating health centers and appointing representatives for these centers. The administration firmly supports these initiatives.

Decentralization

Decentralization

A fundamental program for the poorest regions of the country is that of the Community Health Agents (Agentes Comunitários de Saúde). This program trains people, who are recruited by the local municipalities, to assist the population in elementary health matters: hygiene, nutrition and minor medical care. The number of these community agents has been growing significantly, surpassing 44,000 during 1996. This work is having an immense positive impact on the population's health.

The Family Health Teams (Equipes de Saúde da Família) Program is another important project targeted at the poorest Brazilians. The beneficiaries of this program have more than tripled in number, increasing from 1.3 million in December 1994 to 3.3 million, in 228 municipalities, in December 1996.

The government is endeavoring not only to provide first-world medical treatment, but also to care for the neediest members of society. This depends on the emphasis given to fighting endemic diseases, to the campaigns against epidemics, to the family programs, to the community agent programs, and to nutrition.

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Family health teams

Source: MS

Infant mortality fell significantly in the last two years. The decrease varied from 8.1% to 45.5% in eight of the poorest states in Brazil. This is a substantial reduction. The Church and international organizations are monitoring these data. The improved nutrition and health conditions of the poorest Brazilians could result in an even further reduction in infant mortality over the next few years.

The administration wants 1997 to be the Year of Health and will mobilize for this effort.

Infant mortality
Northeastern States with PACS
(Community Health Agents Programme)

(*)States without data for 1994.
(1) Infant Mortality Rate/1,000 born alive.
Source: MS

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Education

The government had designated 1996 to be the Year of Education. With the support of Congress, the administration enacted a constitutional change that will have a fundamental impact on education — the Teacher Appreciation Program (Programa de Valorização do Magistério), which altered the distribution of education resources among states and municipalities.

After languishing in Congress for eight years, the Minimum Standards Law (Lei de Diretrizes e Bases), whose sponsor was Sen. Darcy Ribeiro, was passed. This was a very valuable contribution by Congress.

The textbook distribution and the school lunch programs each benefited more than 30 million students.

Another important act was the enactment of the national standardized test (provão). The government believes that quality in education is fundamental for both teachers and students. That is why we must develop new evaluation methods, like the final exam, to monitor the quality of university education. The national standardized test represents an improvement in the quality of education.

Basic education data

Teacher appreciation fund

• Annual investment per student = R$ 300.00

Textbooks

• 32 million students
• 87,200,000 books
• 220,000 schools

School lunch

• The number of municipalities covered by the program increased from 3,912 to 4,208.
• During the 180 school days, 33 million grade school students in the state, municipal and philanthropic schools received school lunches.

School TV

• 51,820 schools accredited
• 38,846 TV kits distributed
• 1.5 million professors included
• 24 million students served

Education evaluation

• Number of SAEB students in 1995: 90,499 (Source: SAEB report)
• National Course Examination — ENC

Note: 55,526 students attended.

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Employment

The government strove to create effective employment and professional training programs. It invested substantial resources in two Ministry of Labor programs: R$1.7 billion in the Program to Increase Employment and Improve the Workers' Quality of Life (Programa de Expansão do Emprego e Melhoria da Qualidade de Vida do Trabalhador — PROEMPREGO) and close to R$1.6 billion in the Program to Create Employment and Income (Programa de Geração de Emprego e Renda — PROGER). PROEMPREGO seeks to create direct and indirect employment in environmental sanitation, tourism infrastructure, public urban transportation, and industrial parks. PROEMPREGO's goal is to create and maintain 2.7 million jobs over the next few years. PROGER benefited 296,000 people in 1996. In addition, over R$260 million were utilized for instruction and professional training, benefiting 1,014,000 workers. These numbers are significant, but the administration foresees even larger results in 1997.

Employment and professional training
1996

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Agrarian reform

The last two years have witnessed notable progress in agrarian reform. Three million hectares were expropriated. On an annual basis, it was almost twice as much as during previous governments. This allowed for the resettlement of 100,000 families. The historical average of resettlements in Brazil is 12,000 families per year. This administration quadrupled the historical average, resettling an average of 50,000 families per year. Our goal is to resettle 280,000 families by the end of 1998.

Congressional cooperation was decisive in the administration's efforts to resolve land problems. The Congress passed three modernizing laws:

a) that which requires public prosecutors to monitor the expropriation process;

b) that which accelerated legal procedures, speeding up the process for expropriating rural land; from now on a federal judge will issue his decision on an initial petition within 48 hours and set a hearing for the landowner to respond to the petition;

c) that which changed the Rural Land Tax (Imposto Territorial Rural — ITR); the new ITR establishes a progressive tax on unproductive land. Its annual rate can be as much as 20% of the value of the property. After a few years, the amount paid in taxes could be more than the value of the land. Those who do not use their land will be induced to sell it. Even more important, the tax is based on the owner's declared value of his property, which will serve as the base price for the eventual expropriation of the land. The new ITR will promote a true rural revolution. In practice, this will mean taking land from those who have it but do not use it, and giving it to those who want to produce but do not have land.

Congress' work on land reform is a milestone in contemporary Brazilian history.

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Community Solidarity

The Community Solidarity Program (Programa Comunidade Solidária) expanded its activities significantly in 1996. The municipalities covered by the program more than tripled, increasing from 302 in 1995 to 1,111 in 1996. Another important fact was the distribution of 7.5 million basic food baskets in 1,094 municipalities, indigenous communities and landless rural worker settlements. The infant assistance program fed close to 1.2 million children in 802 municipalities.

Community Solidarity
Basic data for 1996

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Culture

Culture has become an indispensable factor in defining the new model of citizenship.

Under this administration, all Brazilian states have received, for the first time, federal resources for cultural investment.

In 1996, the demand for resources from the National Fund for Culture (Fundo Nacional de Cultura) doubled. This fund emphasizes the preservation of Brazil's cultural heritage, financing 80% of the value of projects presented by non-profit organizations. With respect to Brazilian historical heritage, the state enterprises were directed to earmark part of their advertising budgets for monument restoration projects and for support of artistic and cultural activities. They are benefiting cultural activities greatly.

Four recent legislative modifications had major repercussion in the cultural area:

a) regulating the conversion of external debt to support Brazilian audiovisual projects of independent producers;

b) increasing from 1% to 3% the corporate income tax reduction for investing in such audiovisual projects;

c) increasing the amount of resources obtained from lotteries and raffles for the National Fund for Culture; and

d) establishing the Motion Picture Commission (Comissão de Cinema).

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Environment

The administration has an ongoing concern about environmental issues. This year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will host a conference on the environment. The conference will be called Rio Plus 5, i.e., five years after the 1992 Conference. The environment has become a pervasive theme throughout all levels of government and in the most diverse segments of society.

Among the most recent accomplishments in the environmental area, one should note the R$100 million sustainable development program of the National Program for the Environment (Programa Nacional do Meio Ambiente). For its part, the National Environment Fund (Fundo Nacional de Meio Ambiente), with a budget of R$8 million, financed 102 projects in 1996. Some 80% of these projects were initiatives of non-governmental organizations and small municipalities (less than 120,000 inhabitants).

With respect to the Amazon, the National Integrated Policy (Política Nacional Integrada) will be active in the areas of forest protection, ecotourism and the use of renewable resources. Moreover, the administration has earmarked US$200 million from the Pilot Program for the Protection of Brazilian Rainforests (Programa Piloto para a Proteção das Florestas Tropicais do Brasil — PPG-7).

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National defense

The administration has again taken up national defense as a topic of interest to everyone. Brazil today has a clear national defense policy. Not only the military ministers, but also the Ministers of Justice, of the President's Household, of Foreign Relations and of Strategic Issues contributed to the development of the national defense policy.

There have been other achievements in this area. The government created the National Authority (Autoridade Nacional), which is charged with implementing the provisions of the Convention to Ban Chemical Weapons. Brazil placed a high priority on controlling the exportation of sensitive technologies, participating in the Missile Technology Control Regime and in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. The participation of Brazilian troops in UN peace-keeping missions also deserves mention.

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Human rights

The Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with other ministries, undertook a number of activities and programs in the human rights area in an attempt to combat drugs, to curb forced labor, to improve the condition of blacks, to eliminate job discrimination, to promote women's rights and to eradicate child labor. These activities are part of the National Human Rights Program (Programa Nacional de Direitos Humanos), which went into effect in May 1996. Australia and the Philippines are the only other countries that have adopted such a program.

One relevant issue was Law No. 9,140/95 — the indemnity payments, totaling R$15 million, made to the families of persons who disappeared between 1968 and 1979 because of political activities. Payments totaling R$29 million are foreseen for 1997.

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Indigenous issues

The government has again taken up the issue of the demarcation of indigenous lands and has done so in an indisputably legal manner. The administration has demarcated more land than any previous Brazilian government. Brazilian indigenous people, who today number close to 300,000, possess 11% of the national territory.

Applying the five phases of the Administrative Procedures for the Regulation of Indigenous Lands (Procedimento Administrativo de Regularização de Terras Indígenas), the government has dealt with 120 (22%) of the 556 Indigenous lands existing in Brazil:

• Registered 36
• Approved 11
• Demarcated 56
• Delimited 13
• Identified 4

The 120 lands going through the demarcation process during 1995-96 total 37 million hectares, or 44% of the total indigenous lands recognized by the federal government.

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