In Davos, Bolsonaro ignores letter from the UN and the constitution and talks about “actual human rights”
In a vague yet objective speech, the president focused on environmental conservation without referring to indigenous reserves and climate change
Special Address by Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil and Klaus Schwab, Founder and CEO of the World Economic Forum during the session: “Special Address by Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil” at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos on 22 January 2019 in the Plenary Hall at the Congress Centre. Copyright: World Economic Forum/Christian Clavadetscher
In his first international speech, on Tuesday 22 January at the plenary of the 49th World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, president Jair Bolsonaro attempted to draw a distinction between true and false human rights, ignoring the principles set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.
“True and false human rights do not exist. The right to health, education and fair, impartial judgment, to not suffer torture, to an ecologically balanced environment, among others, are all interdependent and inseparable from each other.” Explained Caio Borges, Conectas Coordinator of Development and Socioenvironmental Rights.
“Human rights are the same for everybody, without privilege or distinction, and “peace”, “democracy” and “development”, terms used by the president himself, infer respect and prevalence of these rights in a universal and wide-ranging manner.” The lawyer added.
In a short, objective speech, the president stressed the country’s commitment to progress and development and held the country up as an example of environmental conservation.
“It is noteworthy that the president says our country will follow ‘international best practices’ with specific reference to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). This organ, which Brazil is seeking to be part of, has incorporated the principles of sustainability and human rights into its criteria. Its Guidelines for Multinational Companies, for example, contains an entire chapter on the environment and another one on human rights. Therefore, once again, following international guidelines means respecting human rights and promoting their applicability to everybody, without distinction, including from a commercial standpoint.” Caio Borges pointed out.
Without using the term “climate change”, Bolsonaro said the country will continue its commitment to reducing CO².
The president also said that Brazil could be successful in agribusiness in a sustainable way, without the need for deforestation. However, when he spoke about the 30% of protected forest he did not mention indigenous demarcations. This is known to be one of the principle obstacles to deforestation in the country and it could come under attack, following the transfer of responsibility to the Ministry of Agriculture.
