International Mega-Events in Brazil

http://www.breitbart.com/sports/2016/04/26/rio-police-sweep-away-street-children-olympics/

The 2016 Olympics in Brazil faces international challenges, as the super-event will be bringing in tourists from around the world. Human rights activists have been criticizing Brazilian officials for employing inhumane practices. Even during the World Cup a few years ago, Brazilian minorities were being displaced so that colossal stadiums could be built specially for the event. Poor Brazilians who were living on that land were made to move abruptly, and without compensation. This time around, children who live on the street are being rounded up and contained in jails as to be kept from the sight of visiting tourists.

Additionally, funds are being used for building sports facilities and improving city infrastructures that will benefit tourists, but at the cost of the citizens who live there. Funding for institutions like schools and even hospitals has been tightened, causing the country to lack basic public goods. There have also been correlations between these mega-events and violence among street children, as well as police brutality. It seems that the pressures to seem presentable to international visitors, compounded with diversion of resources from essential public goods, has had detrimental effects on Brazil as a whole, but especially on the poorer populations. Image and benefits to sectors of the economy like the entertainment business have seemingly become more important to its government than the well-being of its people. Could the countries participating in such mega-events help alleviate these pressures in the future? Perhaps it would be wise and humane to have standards to which host countries must hold themselves to ensure the protection of its citizens.