At the UN, minister says Brazilian government wants popular participation

The Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship, Silvio Almeida, said this Thursday (20th), before the members of the Committee Against Torture of the United Nations (UN), that the Brazilian government is committed to encouraging popular participation in forums of national decisions. “I want to recall the government’s determination [do presidente Luiz Inácio] Lula to encourage and guarantee social participation in all areas of our government. Particularly in those where, in recent years, the dismantling and silencing of civil society prevailed”, said Almeida at the beginning of the fourth day of work of the 76th session of the committee, in Geneva, Switzerland. Comprised of ten independent experts approved by Member States, the Committee Against Torture is the UN body responsible for overseeing, at a global level, that countries that have signed the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment are acting to curb and, if necessary, investigate and punish possible violations of human rights in their territories. In the current session, which began last Monday (17) and will remain open until May 12, the committee is analyzing reports submitted by governments and civil society organizations and independent sources on the current situation of human rights in six countries: Colombia; Luxembourg; Slovakia; Kazakhstan; Ethiopia and Brazil, which promulgated the UN Convention Against Torture in 1991. Examination of the document presented by the Brazilian government began yesterday (20th), with experts handing the delegation led by Minister Silvio Almeida a series of questions that representatives of the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship divided into 12 thematic blocks and which are being answered today by the respective secretaries of the area affected by the issue. This morning, when addressing the experts, Almeida stated that the pertinence of the questions presented yesterday had already contributed to members of the different bodies that make up the Brazilian delegation reflecting on “the challenges that the Brazilian State faces in the fight against torture”. Yesterday, Almeida had already proposed that the opportunity to appear before the committee provides Brazil with the opportunity to resume and re-establish an open and transparent dialogue with the international community on the subject. “We are aware of our challenges and fully willing to make good use of the recommendations that will come to domestically reinforce our commitment to the fight against torture”, said the minister, arguing that the report that the Brazilian government sent to the committee during the administration of the former president Jair Bolsonaro does not honestly reflect the national reality, underestimating the recurrent episodes of torture and institutional violence, mainly against the black and peripheral population.

Agência Brasil