Brazil in the hot seat
Conectas submits contributions for the country’s Periodic Review in the UN
A general view at a 26th session of the Human Rights Council. 26 June 2014. UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
Every four and a half years, all the Member States of the United Nations undergo a process known as the Universal Periodic Review. In each round of the review, the human rights situation in a given country is assessed by all the other members, which make recommendations that may or may not be accepted.
This is currently the main instrument for assessing human rights in the UN.
Brazil is just months away from its third review, which will take place in May 2017, and civil society has the responsibility to inform the United Nations and other countries about the topics that should be the focus of attention during the session.
With the support of various partners, Conectas has submitted eight thematic reports to the UN on indigenous peoples, development and the environment, migration, criminal justice, the reduction of civil society space, the construction of the port of Suape, slave labor and police violence.
These documents, together with submissions from other organizations from across the country, will serve as a basis for the debate that will take place in May. They will also counter the official report submitted by the Brazilian government – a preliminary version of which has already been released for consultation by civil society.
Learn more about the reports below:
1. Strengthening the democratic space
Authors: Conectas and Civicus
Summary: The report examines the compliance, by Brazil, with its obligations to guarantee an enabling environment for civil society. The document highlights violations of the freedoms of association, assembly and expression and unwarranted restrictions on the work of human rights defenders.
Main recommendations:
– Take measures to foster a safe, respectful and enabling environment for civil society, including by removing legal and policy measures that unjustifiably limit the right to assemble;
– Repeal Law No. 13260 so its vague definitions of terrorism cannot be used to criminalize the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of assembly;
– Best practices on the proper management of assemblies, as proposed by the joint report A/HRC/31/66 by the UN Special Rapporteurs on freedom of peaceful assembly and extrajudicial executions, should be adopted under national law.
> Read the report here.
2. Human rights of migrants and refugees
Authors: Conectas and Missão Paz
Summary: The organizations present the context of growing migrant and refugee flows to Brazil and stress that the country’s current immigration legislation is incompatible with international human rights standards. The report also denounces the situation in the area known as the “Connector Space” in the international airport of Guarulhos, in São Paulo, where migrants who are denied entry to Brazil are held indefinitely in precarious conditions, without any legal assistance.
Main recommendations:
– Repeal the Foreigner Act and bring national immigration legislation into line with international human rights standards;
– Guarantee due legal process, access to information and proper treatment for migrants denied entry into the country’s airports.
> Read the report here.
3. Criminal justice
Authors: Criminal Justice Network (Conectas, IDDD, Sou da Paz, Justiça Global, Association for Prison Reform, DDH, ITTC)
Summary: The report provides an overview of the Brazilian prison system, highlighting five key topics: the production of qualitative and quantitative information, in particular on the occurrence of torture and mistreatment; mass incarceration policies that systematically and disproportionately affect black youth from poor neighborhoods; gender discrimination in the prison system; custody hearings; and the failure to apply alternatives to prison sentences.
Main recommendations:
– Guarantee the continuity of the National Prison Information Survey (Infopen), improve the methods used to collect and systematize data, and establish a national standard for data collection with predefined criteria, periodicity and methodology;
– Incorporate into the national legislation the latest recommendations accepted at UNGASS 2016, particularly on the prioritization of alternative sentences for non-violent drug offenders;
– Urgently pass Bill 7764/14 and Senate Bill 404/2015 that ban the use of invasive body searches in both the adult prison system and the youth detention system and guarantee that it is effectively implemented.
> Read the report here.
4. The human rights situation of indigenous peoples in Brazil
Authors: APIB (Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil), RCA (Amazon Cooperation Network) and Human Rights Platform – Dhesca Brazil
Summary: Prepared by indigenous, environmental and human rights organizations, the document demonstrates the lack of progress made in the protection of indigenous peoples since the last RPU cycle and it outlines the violations and abuses committed against these populations – namely, the weakening of Funai (the government agency for indigenous affairs) and the lack of compliance with planning targets for indigenous policies.
Main recommendations:
– Guarantee institutional conditions and adopt urgent measures and ongoing specific programs for the protection of indigenous human rights defenders, paying special attention to the situation of human rights defenders in states that are not part of the Federal Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders;
– Repeal Decree No. 303 and subsequent decrees of the Attorney General’s Office and resume the demarcation of indigenous lands with the proper defense of indigenous rights by Funai’s Specialized Prosecutor’s Offices;
– Establish standards to be followed by government, in order to guarantee the implementation and monitoring of the right of indigenous peoples to be consulted pursuant to ILO Convention 169.
> Read the report here in Portuguese and here in English.
5. Police violence
Author: Conectas
Summary: The report denounces the increase in the number of killings by the police in Brazil, particularly in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, mainly of young black men from poor neighborhoods. It also explains what is known as the “Crimes of May”, which resulted in the death of more than 500 civilians in 2006, and emphasizes the lack of justice and accountability for the perpetrators more than 10 years after the crimes. Finally, the document stresses the flaws of the custody hearings to prevent and combat torture.
Main recommendations:
– Reform of the model of militarized policing: there is an urgent need to reform the model of militarized policing that still views citizens as potential enemies to combat. This structural reform should be underpinned by at least four principles: the full-cycle of police work, wherein street policing and criminal investigation are performed by the same police force; a single career path, enabling recruits to be promoted in accordance with their professional merits, until they become officers; and independent ombuds offices and internal affairs units;
– Police oversight by the Public Prosecutor’s Office: The Public Prosecutor’s Office must do more to fulfill its constitutional role in the oversight of police activity and to rigorously and accurately investigate all the circumstances surrounding deaths caused by police officers;
– Custody Hearings must be used as a tool against torture: ?the ability to take a person to the judicial authorities less than 24 hours after arrest is unprecedented in the Brazilian system. The prevention of torture, including documentation of evidence and psychological treatment for victims, must be a priority in the hearings.
> Read the report here.
6. Impacts of development on the environment
Authors: Conectas, Socioambiental Institute, Office of Indigenous Peoples of the Dhesca Platform
Summary: Human rights violations by infrastructure projects, the extractive industry and agribusiness are recurrent in Brazil and are directly related to the development model adopted by the country. This report shows how Brazil’s institutional framework legitimizes these violations, whether they are committed by private companies or state institutions.
Main recommendations:
– Strengthen the Social and Environmental Policy of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and create a robust and protective framework for the bank;
– Brazilian states should refrain from rolling back the rights of vulnerable groups, particularly indigenous peoples, and the environmental licensing process. These mechanisms and rights must be fully respected, protected and fulfilled;
– The Brazilian State should urgently require businesses to build rights-compatible, inclusive, transparent and accessible consultation mechanisms to incorporate the demands of affected communities and civil society during the early stages of projects and during the reparation processes.
> Read the report here.
7. Installation of CIPS (Governor Eraldo Gueiros Industrial and Port Complex)
Authors: Conectas and Suape Forum
Summary: The report lists a series of human rights violations related to the construction of this port complex in the Pernambuco state capital of Recife. As the document point outs, the project threatens the environment and traditional communities, which are increasingly more exposed to violence, coercion and eviction.
Main recommendations:
– The Brazilian State should refrain from sponsoring economic development projects that violate the rights of traditional populations, indigenous peoples and workers, or that cause environment damage;
– The Brazilian State should adopt, through its Judicial Branch, suitable penalties for the systematic ecocide perpetrated by CIPS, allocating the appropriate co-responsibilities to the various different bodies of the legislative, executive and judicial branches;
– Adopt measures so public banks, state pension funds and other state development bodies assess their investments based on the potential impacts they may have on human rights; and ensure, if violations are identified, the suspension of the financing or the investment based on their own monitoring and consultation processes that are independent of the reports submitted by the borrowers.
> Read the report here.
8. Threats and setbacks in combating slave labor and in promoting decent work in Brazil: the case of coffee plantations in southern Minas Gerais
Authors: Conectas, ADERE-MG (Association of Rural Landless Workers), MST/SUL/MG (Rural Landless Workers Movement), CUT/SUL/MG (Central Trade Union of Workers), SERRMG (Union of Rural Workers from the Southern Region of Minas Gerais) and SERCAC (Union of Rural Workers from Carmo da Cachoeira)
Summary: Brazil has public policies and strong legislation that defines the crime of slave labor, but a series of setbacks are threatening the achievements made over the past few decades in this field. These threats derive primarily from the lack of resources to tackle the problem and the growing attacks by certain industries and sectors of the National Congress.
Main recommendations:
– Equip with financial, human and technical resources the bodies that inspect and combat slave labor, in particular the Labor Inspection Department, the auditors and inspectors from the Ministry of Labor and the Public Defender’s Offices;
– Regulation of Constitutional Amendment 81/2014, enabling the expropriation of farms and companies caught using slave labor in Brazil. The regulation should not water down the concept of slave labor;
– Require public banks to establish their own policies that prevent them from financing rural employers that use slave labor and establish a legal requirement for the financing to be automatically suspended when the employer is placed on the “Slave Labor Blacklist” and when there are repeated cases of irregularities determined by the Ministry of Labor’s Notices of Infractions.
> Read the report here.
