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English

Brazil must reconsider plan to celebrate military coup anniversary, says UN expert

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Foto: Jornal do Senado/Arquivo Público de Distrito Federal

Brazil must reconsider plans to commemorate the anniversary of a military coup which led to gross human rights violations for two decades, says a UN expert.

“Attempts to revise history and justify or condone gross human rights violations of the past must be clearly rejected by all authorities and society as a whole,” said the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence, Fabián Salvioli.

The appeal by the UN expert follows an order by Brazil’s President Bolsonaro telling the Ministry of Defense to mark the 55th anniversary this weekend of the coup that led to a dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.

As formally recognised by the Brazilian State, this period was marked by a regime of restrictions on fundamental rights and violent systematic repression.

According to the National Truth Commission, more than 8,000 indigenous people and at least 434 suspected political dissidents were killed or forcibly disappeared. It is also estimated that tens of thousands of others were arbitrarily arrested and/or tortured. However, an amnesty law enacted by the military dictatorship has prevented accountability for the abuses.

“Commemorating the anniversary of a regime that brought such suffering to the Brazilian population is both immoral and inadmissible in a society based on the rule of law. The authorities are under an obligation to ensure that such horrendous crimes are never forgotten, misrepresented, or left unpunished,” said the expert.

“Any actions that could justify or condone gross human rights violations during the dictatorship would further reinforce the impunity that the perpetrators have enjoyed in Brazil, hinder efforts to prevent any recurrence of such violations and weaken the trust of society in public institutions and the rule of law.”

The Special Rapporteur stressed the right of Brazilians to know the truth about past heinous crimes and about the circumstances that led to them, as well as the State’s duty to preserve evidence of such violence. “This may include preserving the collective memory of these events and guarding against the development of revisionist and negationist arguments,” he said.

An accurate account of the violations suffered by victims constitutes part of their right to reparation and satisfaction. “I am deeply concerned that the planned celebrations could lead to a process of revictimisation for those who suffered.”

Mr. Fabián Salvioli (Argentina) is the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition. He took up his functions on 1 May 2018. Mr. Salvioli is a human rights lawyer and professor of International Law and Human Rights at the School of Law of the University of La Plata, where he is also Director of the Human Rights Master Program and Director of the Institute of Human Rights. He was member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee between 2009 and 2016, and its President between 2015 and 2016. In this capacity, he authored the “Guidelines on reparations” adopted by the Committee in October 2016.

UN Human Rights, Country Page – Brazil
Original press release

English

On the eve of the World Cup, team composed of threatened people launch Campaign for equal rights in Brazil

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Eleven people who put their lives at risk and are criminalized for defending fundamental rights. This is the “football team” that “Front Line: Human Rights Defenders” Campaign supports. The Campaign willl be launched next Tuesday June 10th, at 10am in a press conference and from 6pm on in cultural activity, in São Paulo (details below). The goal of Justiça Global, Terra de Direitos and Front Line Defenders, organizations that promote the initiative, is to raise public awareness about the systematic violations of rights in the country of football.
On the one hand, Brazil is a signatory of several human rights international treaties and conventions, but on the other that doesn’t correspond to the harsh reality of threats suffered by those fighting for political, social, economic, cultural and environmental rights in the country. Instead of being recognized for promoting advances in democracy and have their fight guaranteed by Brazilian State, human rights defenders are persecuted and criminalized by companies and the State itself.
Who are they? Get to know the cases.
The campaign addresses eleven cases of human righs defenders, recovering the political struggle that permeates their lives and that of their communities. Originated from different parts of the country, these human rights defenders have confronting trajectories in different thematic areas. Recent violations related to mega-events in the country are reported and experienced by Vitor Lira, from Rio de Janeiro. The “Mother of May” Débora Silva, from São Paulo, recalls the strenght and the fight of police violence victims in Brazilian cities’ urban peripheries. LGBTT’s difficulties and confrontations come to light through the life of Indianara Siqueira, from Rio de Janeiro, and Márcio Marins, from Paraná.
In its turn, Tupinambá people activism in search for the recognition of their indigenous identity and its territory is narrated based on the history of the Cacique Babau, Bahia. The quilombola community resistance in the struggle for respect to territory and African heritage are represented in the cases of Rosivaldo Correia, Pará, and Rosemeire Santos Silva, Bahia. From Mato Grosso do Sul comes the fight of Guarani-kaiowá indigenous people for the demarcation of their territories, represented in the figure of Cacique Ladio Veron. The damage to the traditional livelihoods of fishermen and riverside population echo in the stories of João do Cumbe, Ceará. On the other hand, land conflicts and rights violations systematically experienced in the field are expressed in the reports of Laísa Santos Sampaio and Osvalinda Pereira, both from Pará.

Info

Press Conference with human rights defenders Cacique Babau, Débora Silva, Rosemeire Santos Silva, Cacique Ládio Veron, Márcio Marins and Indianara Siqueira.
When: Tuesday, 10th June, at 10am
Where: Av. Paulista 575 – 19º andar (Conectas Conference Room)
From 6pm on, there will be a live chat with human rights defenders as well as photo exhibition and videos produced by Midia Ninja recounting the human rights defenders’s lives. There will also be a show of Curumim, as well as other cultural activities. The activities will take place in Jongo Reverendo Cultural Center.
When: Tuesday, 10th de June, from 6pm on
Where: Rua Inácio Pereira da Rocha, 170 – Vila Madalena (Centro Cultural Jongo Reverendo)
Additional information
Glaucia Marinho – Justiça Global: 21 97688-2099
Ednubia Ghisi – Terra de Direitos: 41 8490-6830

Opinião

Police brutality in São Paulo, June 13th / Brutalidad policial en São Paulo, 13 de junio

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[English and Spanish subtitles]

Reporter tells how the Police brutality marked a protest in São Paulo, in June 13th 2013.

Periodista explica cómo la brutalidad policial marcó una protesta en São Paulo, el 13 de junio de 2013.

Opinião

Brazil accepts receiving Libyan refugees

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According to the UN agency, 4 thousand people from different nationalities can’t return to their countries of origin and are trapped in the Libyan borders

Jamil Chade, Estado de São Paulo – July 02, 2011.
(Translated by Julia Mandil)

Brazil has accepted the UN request to receive Libyan refugees. The government will be able to provide refuge for those who are considered by the organization “neglected victims of conflict”. They are Sudanese, Ethiopians, Nigerians, Algerians and families from other nationalities that, in face of the chaos of their countries, can’t return and are now trapped in Libya.

“We have indicated (to the UN) that we are willing to study the cases”, said to the newspaper Estado the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Luiz Paulo Barreto, President of the National Council for Refugees. According to him, Brazil hasn’t defined yet how many refugees it will receive. “Our commitment is to help. Even if we do not agree with the war”, he said.

Despite accepting the refugees, Barreto is emphatic in criticizing the Europeans position, which, according to him, are bombing Libya and, at the same time, closing their doors to the refugees. “There is an international obligation to help”, he affirmed.

The Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Johannes van der Klaauw, confirmed that he will present the cases to the Brazilian Government next week.
Overall, the NGO Doctors Without Borders estimates that the number of refugees in Libya is of one million people. From that amount, 600 thousand would be foreigners. Many would have already returned to their countries of origin. The UN estimates that 4 thousand people do not have a place to go.

A month ago, the United Nations sent a letter to 20 countries, within them, Brazil, asking for help. Overall, the governments offered to receive about 900 people. “The number is short and we need more collaboration”, said Ven der Klaauw.

In the camps, the reports are of despair. “We are here for months. People lost their families and documents. Now, their beginning to lose reason”, said Emmanuel, a 40 years old refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, in statements gathered by the DWB in the refugee camp of Shousha, in the border with Tunisia.

“I stayed four months in prison in Libya and I was frequently beaten. For three weeks I could not stand up. I had to bury seven people, including three pregnant women” said Abdul, from Ivory Coast, refugee in the same camp.

With the arrival of summer, the situation is even worse. The camp is in the middle of the desert, exposed to high temperatures and sand storms, The lack of hygiene starts to worry and violence marks the daily violence marks the camp. In May, protest for better conditions ended with the death of six people.