Northeastern states go to the Supreme Court to prevent cuts to Bolsa Família (Family Allowance program).
Seven states in the Northeast of Brazil have asked the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to immediately suspend the cut of 96 Bolsa Família benefits in the region. According to the legal action, "the Bolsa Família program is effective during this difficult and unique time when it is impossible to earn income through informal work, which unfortunately is the daily reality for families living in poverty and extreme poverty."
247 Seven states in the Northeast of Brazil have asked the Supreme Federal Court (STF) for the immediate suspension of the cut of 96 Bolsa Família benefits in the region, made in March by the Jair Bolsonaro government, in the midst of the coronavirus emergency. Of the 158,4 cut, 61% (96.861) were taken from the people of the Northeast. The request for an injunction to the STF was made by the public prosecutors of Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Piauí, and Rio Grande do Norte.
According to the text of the lawsuit, the seven federative units "seek to confront the pandemic, making it essential that social programs fulfill their function, and the Bolsa Família program is effective for this difficult and unique moment of impossibility of earning income in the informal sector, which unfortunately is the daily reality for families living in poverty and extreme poverty."
The Attorney General of Pernambuco, Ernani Medicis, highlighted that, on March 12th, the states filed this lawsuit with the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and requested the adoption of measures to "correct the backlog and distortion in the granting of new benefits to families in the Northeast."
"In the new petition, we reiterate the request, contextualizing it with the health crisis we are going through, and add that, even in the face of the state of public calamity due to the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government not only maintained the restriction on new registrations of families from the Northeast but also made disproportionate cuts to scholarships. This is a situation that has no justification. The Union has had several opportunities to provide information and has not done so," he states. The content of the action was published in... UOL portal.
The public prosecutors asked the federal government to indicate the criteria and any timetable for granting benefits and for potential cuts. They also requested that the government treat Brazilians who need Bolsa Família and who live in the Northeast region in an equal and equitable manner.