Empty discourse
Brazil shows disconnect with UN at first session since the country returned to the Human Rights Council
The 34th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council ended on March 24 in Geneva, Switzerland. The session marked Brazil’s return to the body after a year of absence.
The country’s return was announced by the federal government as a diplomatic triumph and proof of its commitment to fundamental rights and guarantees. This image, however, was shattered over the course of the session by countless complaints made by civil society organizations and also by the votes cast by Brazil in important debates on the continuity of the special procedures.
The outcome was alarming: the country not only stuck to its historically problematic positions – such as abstaining in the vote on the human rights situation in Iran – but it also radically changed, for the worse, its historical positions on issues such as monitoring the impacts of foreign debt and economic reforms on human rights.
See below a summary of all the actions of Conectas and partner organizations over the course of the 34th session of the Council.
Custody hearings
One of the highlights of the session was the international launch of the research “Shielded Torture”, which analyzed 393 cases in which there were signs of police violence at custody hearings in São Paulo.
In addition to organizing the side event “Criminal justice in Brazil: torture and the prison system”, which was attended by Enrique Font of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, Conectas, Pastoral Carcerária (the Catholic Church’s prisoner outreach service) and the NGO Justiça Global denounced, in an oral statement, the inaction of the institutions of the São Paulo justice system when reports of torture are made in these hearings.
“The disappointing conclusion was that the criminal justice system is perpetuating torture,” the representative of the organizations told the Council.
Click here to read the statement in full.
Watch the statement by the organizations (starting at 0:26:35):
The Brazilian government requested the right to respond. Ambassador Maria Nazareth Farani Azevêdo, the country’s permanent representative in Geneva, said that the authorities are aware of “the nature and scope of the challenges in the criminal justice system and the prison system”, but that changes require time.
Watch the response of the Brazilian government (starting at 2:39:01):
Slave labor
The government also had to explain to the Council about the legal attempts to prevent the publication of the “slave labor blacklist” – a document that lists companies found using contemporary forms of slave labor.
In response to an appeal by the government, on March 7 Judge Ives Gandra Filho, president of Brazil’s Superior Labor Court, suspended the disclosure of the list. This decision was annulled a week later by another judge on the same court, Alberto Luiz Bresciani, after the Office of the Public Prosecutor for Labor Issues filed a request for an injunction. On March 23, the document was finally published with the names of 68 employers.
The legal battle exposed the weakness of the instrument and the unwillingness of the government to publish the document.
In a statement made on March 20, just three days before the publication of the list, Conectas presented the case to a full session of the Council. According to the organization, the constitutionality of the list has been challenged in the past, but “this is the first time that the Federal Executive has sided with the interests of the corporate sectors that benefit from the suspension” of the document.
“Any decision by the Judiciary to suspend the list on the grounds of its violation of individual liberties favors private corporations involved in slave labor in detriment of the most vulnerable” in society, said Conectas.
Click here to read the statement in full.
Watch the statement made by Conectas (starting at 0:55:30):
The government again requested the right of reply in this case and stated that the country has a “long-standing commitment” to the eradication of slavery. It also said that the interministerial group appointed to revise the decree that created the blacklist should come up with a new version of the text by July.
Watch the response of the Brazilian government (starting at 1:14:32):
In the defendant’s dock
Another statement made by Conectas and the Brazilian Human Rights and Foreign Policy Committee emphasized the importance of the Universal Periodic Review of Brazil in the UN, scheduled for May 5, for the promotion of human rights in the country.
The UPR occurs every four and a half years and consists of a hearing on the human rights situation in each of the 193 UN Member States. During the review, one country is analyzed and receives recommendations from all the others.
In the statement, the organizations urged the government to oversee the UPR process in a transparent and participatory manner, particularly regarding the analysis of the recommendations that will be made at the hearing.
“We urge the Brazilian government to consider all the recommendations in an open and transparent manner, making its positions about the acceptance of recommendations public and submitting them to a public hearing before sending its final decision to the UN,” they said.
Click here to read the full statement by the organizations.
Watch the statement by the organizations (starting at 0:47:30):
The Brazilian diplomatic mission once again requested the right of reply and stressed the initiatives to consult with and listen to civil society before the government delivered its official report to the United Nations.
Watch the response of the Brazilian government (starting at 1:20:10):
Patents
In a special panel on access to medicines, the GTPI (Working Group on Intellectual Property), of which Conectas is part, denounced the abusive increase in the price of HIV/AIDS treatment in Latin America – which, says the group, has led to an “erosion” of national budgets and an increase in mortality rates.
“The good practices in our region are threatened by the unethical use of the patent system, resulting in a reduction of rights for the population and an architecture of impunity for corporations,” said the organization in a statement.
“Attacks on the right of user flexibilities must be condemned and punished. This is why we need binding rules to hold corporations accountable for violations, especially for human rights violations,” it added.
Watch the statement of the GTPI (starting at 1:40:32):
Problematic votes
In addition to the serious complaints that emerged at various different times during the session, Brazil was also the target of criticisms for its votes in debates on resolutions.
On March 23, for the first time, the Brazilian mission in Geneva voted against renewing the mandate of the independent expert on foreign debt and other international financial obligations.
The current independent expert is the Argentine citizen Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky and his responsibilities include monitoring the negative impact of economic measures on social rights and on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Brazil’s position was defeated: by 31 votes to 16, the resolution renewing the mandate of the expert for three years was approved.
When justifying the vote, Brazil defended the fiscal adjustment that is being implemented by the government of President Michel Temer.
The drastic change of position occurred just months after the statements by the special rapporteur on poverty Philip Alston against Constitutional Amendment 95, which freezes public spending on health and education for twenty years.
Watch Brazil’s justification for its vote against renewing the mandate of the independent expert on foreign debt (starting at 0:05:30):
Another vote that was harshly criticized by civil society was cast during the debate on the renewal of the mandate of the special rapporteur on Iran, approved by 22 votes in favor and 12 against.
Repeating the position taken during a similar discussion in the UN General Assembly in December 2016, Brazil abstained from voting. In its justification, the permanent representative of Brazil to the UN in Geneva, ambassador Maria Nazareth Farani Azevêdo said that “despite legitimate concerns regarding the human rights record in the country, Brazil recognizes the current government’s efforts to promote incremental reforms”.
According to the most recent report of the special rapporteur, published in September last year, at least 530 people were executed in the country in 2016. The number could be even higher considering that Tehran has not permitted any special rapporteurs to visit the country since 2005, despite the standing invitation it issued in 2002.
Side events
Besides its statements made at several times during the session, Conectas also supported and participated in a number of side events organized by partner organizations.
On March 2, it served on the panel “Accountability for grave crimes in Mexico: a shared responsibility”, organized by the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights and the Open Society Justice Initiative.
On March 3, two other debates took place simultaneously: one on the reduction of the democratic space for the work of civil society, and the other on the future of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay under the government of President Donald Trump.
