Brazilian capitals sign Rio Letter to protect children and adolescents
On 12 May 2026, municipal secretaries from eight Brazilian capitals gathered in Rio de Janeiro to sign the “Carta do Rio por Cidades que Protegem Crianças e Adolescentes.” The signatories – Belém, Fortaleza, Manaus, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São Luís and São Paulo – represent more than 7 million children and adolescents.
The agreement, part of UNICEF’s City for Children agenda, pledges stronger inter‑sectoral coordination among education, health, social assistance and human‑rights agencies, priority budgeting for young people, and actions to tackle racial, territorial and gender inequalities. It also calls for mechanisms that avoid revictimisation under Brazil’s Law of Protected Hearing. UNICEF’s Layla Saad described the signing as a strategic political decision in response to an alarming context: between 2021 and 2023 the eight capitals recorded over 2,200 violent deaths of children and adolescents and thousands of sexual‑violence cases.
Rio de Janeiro’s education secretary, Hugo Nepomuceno, highlighted recent progress, noting that seven “Friendly to Early Childhood” units in Pavuna have been certified and that the partnership with UNICEF is improving primary‑care indicators. The event brought together about 100 municipal managers to discuss early‑childhood policies and coordinated responses to urban violence.