x

UPR Media Briefing Note


Friday, 25 May 2012 (Morning)
For use of information media; not an official record

State under review

Brazil
Represented by 36-member delegation headed by Maria do Rosário NUNES, Minister of State of Brazil.

Documents

To access national report, compilation of UN information, and summary of stakeholders’ information, visit the Brazil page on UPR website).

Troika *

Poland, Ecuador, China.

Opening statement by State under review

Few points raised in the  opening statement of State under review:
(See full statement on the Brazil page on UPR Extranet)

The protection and promotion of human rights was an integral part of the Constitution and very much a priority of the State and at the foundation of the Government’s overall policy and vision;

  • Brazil has realized its commitment in achieving all the Millennium Development Gaols (MDGs) by   2015 while ensuring that the human rights perspective was fully mainstreamed into their efforts in this regard;
  • Among the many advances made in the social sector, the head of delegation noted that income inequality was dropping and that Brazil was going through a period of ensuring full employment;
  • The State had also set up the Brazil without Poverty initiative, which sought to reach out to the poorest in society; an integral component of this programme was to include vulnerable groups in policy decisions in the area of economic, social and cultural rights;
  • The State has also taken a decisive step to approve a proposed amendment to the Constitution for the eradication of slave labour;
  • Moreover, from 2010 onwards the right to food has enjoyed Constitutional status;
  • The State has also been providing subsidies to those in lowest income bracket to allow them to purchase adequate housing; this has been extended to some two million families;
  • Among other steps taken in the area of human rights were those to eliminate gender disparities in employment, to advance LGBT rights, to uphold and respect religious freedoms, and to protect and promote the rights of human rights defenders;
  • The Government also put in place several measures to respect cultural identities and the lands of the indigenous peoples, to promote access to justice, to ensure the dignity for those deprived of their liberties, to uphold the rights of children, the rights of persons with disabilities and the elderly;
  • Combating violence against women was among the on-going challenges; there was also a law enacted specifically to combat torture;
  • The delegation also noted the establishment of the Truth Commission and the Law on Access to Information;
  • In Brazil human rights and development was complementary which was evidenced through a number of recent policies and programmes and progress made in that regard.

Participants

In total 78 States participated in the dialogue: 31 HRC members and 47 observers (Statements available on the Brazil page on UPR Extranet).

Positive achievements

Positive achievements noted by delegations included, among others:

  • Various achievements made in the area of the fight against poverty, in particular the Brazil without Poverty initiative and the realization of the MDGs;
  • Policies to combat HIV/AIDS and the provision of anti-retroviral drugs and the Family Health Strategy and efforts to reduce infant mortality and malnutrition;
  • Measures made to promote and protect women’s rights and to combat violence against women;
  • The creation of the Truth Commission;
  • The enactment of the access to information law;
  • The creation of a National LGBT Council.

Issues and Questions

Issues and questions raised by the Working Group included, among others:

  • Steps taken to promote human rights in view of the upcoming World Cup in 2014 and Olympic Games in 2016 in Brazil;
  • Extrajudicial killings by law enforcement officials;
  • Steps to stamp out domestic violence and violence against women;
  • Measures taken to address the situation of street children
  • Efforts to protect human rights defenders;
  • Measures to advance the rights of indigenous people, including the Quilimbola communities.

Recommendations

States participating in the dialogue posed a series of recommendations to Sri Lanka. These pertained to the following issues, among others: 

  • Taking steps to establish a national human rights council in compliance with the Paris Principles;
  • Continuing to take reforms to reform the prison system, improve prison conditions, and address the situation of prison overcrowding;
  • Fighting against arbitrary and on-duty police killings and to ensure that all such acts were properly registered, investigated, and that perpetrators were held accountable; to take stronger action to counter the existence of “death squads” active in some States;
  • Ensuring the availability of public defenders in all detention locations; the creation of a protection system for judges under threat;
  • Strengthening efforts to combat both internal and international trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children;
  • Taking efforts to fully implement the Maria da Penha Law on domestic and family violence against women; to provide systematic training to law enforcement officials on women’s rights and violence against women;
  • Strengthening measures to address the situation of street children; to advance efforts to register children in rural areas;
  • Ensuring adequate safeguards were in place to ensure protection of human rights defenders, including those working with indigenous communities, as well as journalists; to pass legislation to confirm the official status of the National Programme for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders;
  • Adopting a policy allowing for investigations and prosecutions of all cases of murder or attempted murder of human rights defenders;
  • Ensuring the rights of indigenous peoples, in particular their rights to traditional lands, territories and resources, and in so doing protect them from expulsions, intimidation and threats of assassination;
  • Formulating programmes for the effective implementation of the National Plan on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to ensure effective non-discrimination for persons with disabilities;
  • Ratification of human rights instruments:  the OP to the ESCR; the Convention on the rights of migrant workers; and ILO Conventions 189 and 87 concerning domestic workers.

Adoption of report of Working Group

The adoption of the report of the UPR Working Group on Brazil is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 30 May 2012.

The troikas are a group of three States selected through a drawing of lots who serve as rapporteurs and who are charged with preparing the report of the Working Group on the country review with the involvement of the State under review and assistance from the OHCHR. 

Media contact: Rolando Gómez, Public Information Officer, OHCHR, + 41(0)22 917 9711, rgomez@ohchr.org