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On the Front Line: Human Rights Defenders in Brazil - 2002 - 2005

In addition to contributing to the promotion of a society in which basic rights are respected and guaranteed, human rights defenders play an essential role in the strengthening of democracy, the rule of law, and the judicial system.   As a result of this work, they are an irritant and pose a challenge to the political and economic powers responsible for human rights violations.   Consequently, defenders are subject to a wide range of human rights violations.

Threats towards human rights defenders in Brazil are not restricted to those fighting for civil and political rights; all those who defend and promote economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights are at risk as well.   This was the conclusion of the first comprehensive study on human rights defenders carried out in Brazil in 2001 entitled: Frontline: Human Rights Defenders in Brazil, 1997-2001.  Through the documentation and analysis of 57 emblematic crimes against human rights defenders working in different regions of Brazil, that first research   demonstrated that in more that 80% of the cases (out of a total of 46 cases) there was virtually no progress made in the investigation of crimes committed against these activists or bringing to trial those responsible for the violations.

Three years have passed since that first publication, and to mark the visit to Brazil of Ms. Hina Jilani, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Justiça Global and Terra de Direitos (two Brazilian non-governmental human rights organizations) researched, analyzed, and recorded updated information in the present second national report, exposing the continual threats, persecution, criminalization, and murders to which human rights defenders are still subjected.

This report documents and denounces the Brazilian government's slowness, incompetence, and inefficiency in dealing with the issue.   In fact, the Brazilian government has not provided an adequate security structure for human rights defenders and does not manage, or in many cases simply is not willing, to protect them when they are at risk.

The cases presented herein are only a handful of the many that threaten the defense of human rights in Brazil.   However, they serve to more than adequately illustrate the seriousness of the situation, and illustrate the historic pattern of violence against human rights defenders and the impunity the perpetrators enjoy.   Many more cases of at-risk defenders could have been included in this report, which itself reflects the risks to which the defenders are continually exposed.

It is our hope that this report will serve as an instrument for the monitoring of such an important issue, that it will contribute to a greater awareness of the issue on behalf of the Brazilian government, general public, civil society, and international community, and help move the Brazilian government towards the development and enforce of public policies that protect and promote the work of human rights defenders.

 

To download the electronic versions of this report, click on the links below:

In English: On the Front Line: Human Rights Defenders in Brazil - 2002 - 2005 (PDF file 470KB)

Other files available for download:
Report in Portuguese: Defensores de Direitos Humanos no Brasil - 2002 - 2005 (PDF file, 500KB