Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarapé Institute in Brazil and the SecDev Group in Canada: “High-profile attacks on schools are on the rise in Brazil. The country has experienced more than 22 serious incidents resulting in 93 victims since 2002; half of these occurred in the past year. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. According to the Brazilian ministry of education, there were more than 17,000 cases of school violence reported in 2019 alone, which included physical assaults, threats and theft. And in 2020, the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies and the Caribbean determined that Brazil had among the highest rates of school violence in Latin America, with some 60 percent of students reporting experiencing violence in their school environment. Indeed, firearm injuries were the leading causes of death between 2000-2020 for children and adolescents aged 1-19. Several structural factors contribute to school violence. To be sure, Brazil has among the world’s highest levels of economic and social inequality, which is strongly correlated with…”