HUMAN RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Huge Gap Between Laws and Their Enforcement

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 19 2000 (IPS) - The enormous distance between legislation and its effective application in Brazil was the main concern expressed by United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson on her four-day visit here.

Grave problems like torture, murders, discrimination and a frightful inequality in income distribution stand in stark contrast to laws guaranteeing the rights of all Brazilians, said Robinson, who visited the cities of Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

But she also highlighted the “strong commitment” by national and state authorities to seeking solutions. Furthermore, she said, government officials admit that there are problems, “an important step” towards combatting them.

Robinson called on local authorities to make greater efforts towards reducing the gap between laws and their enforcement in questions like child labour, indigenous rights, violence against women, racial discrimination, police brutality and appalling prison conditions.

An alliance with civil society, as well as UN support through a variety of mechanisms and international conventions will help promote human rights, she said in a press conference on the last day of her visit Thursday.

Robinson signed a memorandum of understanding Tuesday with the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, in which the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights offered assistance and technical cooperation to Brazil, through projects to be agreed on by a mission to visit the country in the near future.

At the end of her visit, Robinson stressed the willingness of Cardoso, his justice minister José Gregori, and the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Anthony Garotinho, to move forward with programmes designed to boost respect for human rights.

She also praised the intense activity of local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the Human Rights Commission of the lower house of Congress.

NGOs advocating the rights of Blacks, for example, have been pressuring the government to organise the inter-American meeting on racism, to be held in preparation for the Aug 31-Sep 7, 2001 World Conference Against Racism in South Africa.

Brazil initially offered to host the regional gathering, but withdrew its offer last month, arguing a lack of funds.

Robinson said it would be important for Brazil to hold the meeting in Brazil. As secretary-general of the World Conference Against Racism, she pledged one million dollars in UN funds for the country hosting the regional meet, to help defray the costs.

The national and regional conferences must be held before February 2001, she pointed out.

In Rio de Janeiro, Robinson visited one of the best-known “favelas” (shantytowns), Mangueira, where private companies and the local government have implemented successful sports and educational programmes aimed at keeping youth out of trouble.

Thanks largely to those projects, juvenile delinquency in Mangueira has virtually disappeared, according to local authorities.

Robinson backed Governor Garotinho’s idea of setting up a special police force to work in the favelas. Agents must be trained to respect the poor residents of shantytowns, in order not to “burst in, guns in hand, or already shooting,” as they tend to do according to complaints by local citizens, he said.

In Sao Paulo on Wednesday, the UN official received reports on abuse, including torture, suffered by children and teenagers confined in the juvenile delinquency centres of the State Foundation for the Welfare of Minors.

In the past few months, young inmates have held riots in the reform schools to call attention to the brutality to which they are submitted by their guards and the appalling conditions in which they are held.