Crucial moment

Rousseff’s visit to Obama creates opportunity to discuss urgent human rights issues

The state visit by President Dilma Rousseff to her counterpart Barack Obama next Tuesday, June 30, is already being considered one of Brazil’s main foreign policy actions of 2015. To be truly relevant, though, the agenda for the trip cannot be limited to trade negotiations. As the United States ambassador in Brazil has already pointed out, the two countries have a unique opportunity to address urgent human rights topics, such as internet privacy, use of force by the police and the closure of Guantanamo.

The visit by the Brazilian president to the White House will take place just days after a mass complaint in the UN, by human rights organizations, against the existence of the prison and the torture program run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after the attacks of 9/11. The joint statement was supported by more than 100 international organizations.

“Brazil claims it wants to regain its prominence on the international stage, but this is something it has to earn. Rousseff’s visit to the United States is a unique window of opportunity to put dialogue into practice and to show that Brazil can contribute to the resolution of gross violations, such as the case of the prison at Guantanamo,” said Camila Asano, coordinator of Foreign Policy at Conectas.

Installed in 2002 to hold people captured over the course of the so-called “war on terror”, the U.S. prison has become a singular example of the systematic use of arbitrary detention, torture and mistreatment on the continent. Currently, 116 people are still detained in the complex. Of those, 51 have already undergone a rigorous review process by six U.S. agencies (including the CIA and FBI) and were unanimously cleared for transfer to other countries, but they remain imprisoned in Guantanamo. This is because they cannot return to their countries of origin and nor can they be taken to the United States, since the U.S. Congress unduly banned this alternative. The solution is for a third country to offer asylum.

Brazil has many reasons and conditions to follow the example set by its neighbor Uruguay and offer to receive them. Besides being a humanitarian gesture, such an act would also help Obama deliver on his promise to close the prison – which would only be viable after it has been emptied.

Click here to read the reasons for Brazil to help close Guantanamo.

Violations in the United States: Brazil’s concerns

In May, the United States underwent its second Periodic Review in the UN – a mechanism intended to assess the human rights situation in the organization’s 193 member states. During the hearing of the U.S. delegation, Brazil made three recommendations on the subjects of migration, internet privacy and police violence. Now, during her visit, Rousseff will have the opportunity to reinforce these requests.

In her statement, the Brazilian ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, Regina Dunlop, asked the Obama administration to establish alternatives to the detention of immigrants, especially children.

Similarly, the president will be able to stress the importance of taking steps to combat the excessive use of force by the police and to eliminate racial discrimination from the police ranks. The topic has been garnering attention due to the recent wave of protests against the deaths of young black people in police operations.