In 2008, Mirim-Brasil is reaching “adulthood.” It has been 18 years of action in defense and promotion of the rights of children and adolescents. In this path, it has built its history together with hundreds of people, families, and institutions, promoting education, culture, sport and access to justice, as well as strengthening civil society with local, national, and international action.

Mirim-Brasil’s life began at the end of the 1980s, when a group of friends - idealists and activists for democracy - became engaged in the discussions and meetings in Recife, Brazil, concerning the drafting of the Statute of the Child and Adolescent. With it approved on 13 July 1990, the group intensified its activities, founded the Children and Youth Revindication Movement, and from there worked with greater efficiency and effectiveness towards the construction of a world with justice, equality, and solidarity.

But why found an organization with this objective? Brazil had passed on October 1988 a new Constitution, bringing in its body two articles that modify the institutional approach towards children and adolescents. A mechanism to demand and follow the implementation of these policies was nevertheless necessary, since Brazil was at the time still living under the norms of the October 1979 Minors’ Code, which had a repressive and correctional character. The Minors’ Code was thrown out in 1990, when it was substituted for Law 8.069, the Statute of the Child and Adolescent, which places the child and youth populations as a central concern for society, and guides the creation of public policies in all governmental spheres.

As such Mirim-Brasil came into being at a very important historical moment, and established its mission of fighting for the rights of children and adolescents. It is by keeping the well-being of the population in mind and recognizing that the child and adolescent are an absolute priority that Mirim-Brasil maintains its activism, courage, perseverance, and hope - factors which make the day-to-day battles possible.

This is a story worth telling, knowing, and supporting!

Source:  Communication Coordination - Mirim-Brasil

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