Since 1998, in cooperation with the National Secretariat for Public Security of the Ministry of Justice, the ICRC has been running a programme to disseminate the human rights rules and humanitarian principles applicable to police operations among security forces. To date, over 1000 police instructors from around the country have received training.

The organization also provides legislators with legal support so that the country can fulfil its international commitments by ratifying international humanitarian law treaties and incorporating them into domestic legislation. It also helps some of the main military academies integrate this law in their training. Soldiers sent by Brazil to join UN peacekeeping forces, for example, have attended conferences and seminars organized by the ICRC.

Cooperation with the Brazilian Red Cross is one of the ICRC’s key activities in the country. The aim is to boost the Movement's emergency response preparedness. In 2008, the ICRC and the Brazilian Red Cross began working with communities in some of the favelas (shanty towns) of Rio de Janeiro, running several health campaigns for the benefit of residents.

The ICRC is also running a pilot of the Exploring Humanitarian Law programme in deprived areas of Rio de Janeiro, in public schools that have been put forward by the local education authority. The programme provides an introduction to international humanitarian law and gives the students the opportunity to discuss possible ways of resolving conflicts and differences of opinion, through tolerance and solidarity. It invites students to consider these issues in their daily lives.

More information in Portuguese about ICRC activities in Brazil