Campaign launched to reduce killings

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP):

Several human rights groups and think tanks in Brazil are launching a campaign aimed at drastically reducing homicides in Latin America's largest nation.

Brazil overall has more murders annually than any other country in the world. That's according to the Igarape Institute think tank, which draws United Nations data and statistics from governments around the world. In 2015, the last year for which comparative numbers are available, 56,212 people were killed in Brazil.

The effort, launched yesterday, aims to make reducing homicides a campaign issue in the 2018 elections. It involves pressuring the government to implement policies like therapy programmes for drug users and reforming the prison system. It also pushes to reduce confrontations between military police and residents in slums.