Special Issue: Violence and Crime in the Amazon Region

Dear Authors

First of all, we would like to thank each and every one of you for the trust you have placed in the Revista Brasileira de Segurança Pública (RBSP) by submitting your manuscripts to the Special Issue: Violence and Crime in the Amazon Region. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the reviewers who gave up their time to carry out the arduous task of evaluating the submitted texts.

Throughout the process of submitting, evaluating and accepting manuscripts for publication, the RBSP team always adheres to the precepts defined in its editorial line, code of ethics and responsibilities, with the primary aim of guaranteeing the excellence of its publications, always maintaining its high visibility and quality indicators.

In this context, based on a detailed evaluation of the manuscripts submitted to the Special Issue: Violence and Crime in the Amazon Region, it can be seen that: (i) despite the extension of the submission period, there was a small number of manuscripts submitted; (ii) there was a significant number of manuscripts submitted that did not meet the submission guidelines of the Brazilian Journal of Public Security and (iii) some manuscripts addressed issues relating to the Amazon Region in an incipient way.

Therefore, we are sorry to inform you that the publication of the Special Issue: Violence and Crime in the Amazon Region has become unviable. We would also like to inform you that the manuscripts that were evaluated and recommended for publication will be published in the continuous flow editions of RBSP. As for the manuscripts not recommended for publication, we suggest that you read the opinions sent carefully so that the text can be promptly accepted in the next submission.

Once again, thank you for your interest in collaborating with the Special Issue: Violence and Crime in the Amazon Region. If you have any questions, please contact our technical team at revista@forumseguranca.org.br.

Cordially,

Edson Ramos

Ludmila Ribeiro

Paula Poncioni

Silvia Almeida

Presentation

The Amazon is grandiose, challenging, vast, continental, intriguing, mysterious, and diverse - all these adjectives characterize very well its land, flora, fauna, and natural resources. Surely the diversity of the Amazon has made it a world laboratory of sustainable development, focusing on water, forest, and food. However, according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, lethal violence in the Amazon region has grown in recent years in relation to the country's average. In addition, more than 20 regional and two national criminal organizations have been identified disputing the routes of arms and drugs in the region.

However, the violence in the Amazon has its historical roots in the agrarian conflicts and the ways of appropriation of natural resources: land, water, wood, minerals, forest, etc. And this violence has become increasingly worse in recent years, mainly due to the presence of land grabbers interested in the lands occupied by local populations, for the expansion of land markets, livestock, grains, palm oil, soybeans, pine, eucalyptus, and therefore the illegal occupation and theft of land has grown in the region. Moreover, there is the presence of violence in the materialization of mining, mining projects, infrastructure works, among others, which are constantly in the national and international news.

In fact, the Amazon region has experienced several waves of violence against populations, and more recently, has also been experiencing a wave of drug trafficking and crime rooted in mining, timber extraction, and exploitation of wildlife, much because of the proximity of traditionally coca producing areas such as Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, which puts the Amazon on the international trafficking route, with the growing presence of national criminal factions in the region, and therefore, being necessary and urgent to improve the presence of the state in the region. Therefore, it is necessary and urgent to improve the presence of the State in the region, starting with the intervention of local, state, and federal forces in order to avoid the possibility of new cases of assassinations, such as those of the indigenous activist Bruno Pereira and the journalist Dom Phillips.

In recent years the violence in the Amazon had a jump of 47.3% in intentional violent deaths and violence against indigenous people had an increase of 295%, according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, in addition, today, Brazil is the fourth most dangerous country for environmental and human rights activists. In this sense, it is with great satisfaction that we invite the academic community and public security professionals to submit a scientific article to the special supplement of the Brazilian Journal of Public Security, for a special issue - Violence and Crime in the Amazon Region - coordinated by Edson Marcos Leal Soares Ramos and Silvia dos Santos de Almeida, members of the Graduate Program in Public Security, Federal University of Pará. The mentioned issue will be composed of articles and a technical note that have a focus on violence and crime in the Amazon region, that address a broader perspective of discussions around this theme for the current context, and may relate to the debate and consolidation of projects, public policies or research areas.