Outgoing United Nations Rapporteur Proposes International Inquiry Against Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL  – For the first time in its democratic period, Brazil is the target of an official recommendation for the government to be the subject of an international investigation for its environmental and human rights policies.

The initiative came from UN special rapporteur Baskut Tunkat, responsible for toxic waste and human rights. His proposal is that the Human Rights Council should approve the opening of an investigation. However, to this end, governments would be required to present a draft resolution and pass the proposal by a majority vote.

For experienced negotiators, such a scenario today at the UN would be unlikely.

But the request reflects an unprecedented unease between the Brazilian government and independent UN envoys. The rapporteur conducted a mission to Brazil in late 2019 and, in preparing his report, found serious violations of the country’s environmental and human rights obligations, also in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tunkat completed his mandate mid-year and the report will be submitted by the new rapporteur, Marcos Orellana.

The report also assessed the patch burns, attacks on human rights activists, the pesticide situation, and the state’s response to Brumadinho, Mariana and the oil spill on national beaches. The text will be delivered to the UN Human Rights Council later this week.

Document places Brazil next to Syria

The report also recommends that the UN hold “a special session on the protection of the Amazon forest and human rights, ensuring the active involvement of all concerned”. Special sessions are requested only for serious crises, such as the crisis in Venezuela, the repression in Belarus or Syria.

Questioned, the Itamaraty foreign office has not commented. On September 18th, the government will react to the report during the UN meeting in Geneva (Switzerland).

Since the start of Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, complaints have been filed with the International Criminal Court by labor unions and NGOs. This week, the court temporarily shelved the complaints related to the government’s role in tackling Covid-19, considering that more evidence would be required to substantiate the inquiry. Complaints about the Amazon and the situation of indigenous peoples are still under analysis.

But this time the request comes from one of the UN’s special agencies and does not speak of crimes against humanity, but rather of a State that does not fulfill its legal obligations to defend its population, in addition to harming the world because of the destruction of the forests.

Unchecked, Brazil could generate a catastrophe of global proportions, says the document

The rapporteur calls on foreign governments and organizations to intervene in order to stop what is happening in the country. “If left unchecked, the situation in Brazil will become not only a national catastrophe, but also one with extraordinary regional and global repercussions, including the destruction of our climate,” the document warns.

Among foreign ambassadors, many believe it is unlikely that the investigation will go ahead, but point out that for the first time since the end of the military dictatorship, a specific proposal has been submitted to open an investigation against Brazil, with an unprecedented diplomatic constraint.

Currently, only countries like Syria, North Korea, Myanmar, Venezuela or Burundi are subject to specific UN inquiries.

Were it to be opened, the investigation would permanently place Brazil on the United Nations human rights agenda.

“Brazil is in a state of deep regression”

However, the report suggests that there would be legitimacy for a similar process regarding Brazil. “Despite positive advances in recent decades, Brazil is in a state of deep regression with respect to human rights principles, laws, and norms, in violation of international law,” it says. “To support its actions and inaction, the government continues to deny uncontroversial scientific truths and introduces unjustified uncertainties and mythical arguments,” it cautions.

The report points out that private players are signaled to “disregard laws designed to safeguard global common goods and the rights of indigenous peoples and people of African descent.”

“Corporate crimes against workers and communities are perpetrated with impunity, and the rights to information and involvement are dramatically reduced,” it warns.

“Several judicial and parliamentary decisions are not implemented when unfavorable to private interests. The inflammatory rhetoric, the rejection of sustainability, and the failure to prosecute have set fire to another epidemic, one of intimidation, attacks, and murder of human rights activists,” denounces the request for investigation.

Salles’ wish to reduce safeguards

According to the document, after several advances since 2000 in terms of environmental preservation, the current government has promoted a change in the country’s course.

“Today, Brazil is on a steep path towards the regression of sustainability and human rights,” says the document. “The footage of the rampant burning of the Amazon rainforest has become a daunting picture of this decline and the erosion of Brazil’s commitment to these international values and principles. However, much of this regression is invisible,” he warns.

For the UN rapporteur, “recent videos of Ministers conspiring to use the coronavirus crisis to reduce safeguards are proof of these concerns.” He referred to the Minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles’ suggestion at the April 22nd cabinet meeting to change several environmental laws while the world focuses on the pandemic.

The report also evaluates the fires in the Amazon and other parts of the country. “Without the Amazon, the world would be struck by the devastation of climate change, killing countless people and pushing millions into destitution. The burning of the Amazon forest represents a catastrophic risk to the human rights of billions of people around the world,” it notes.

Forest fires generate 67 percent of Brazil’s emissions, says report

According to the document, air pollution through forest fires releases 67 percent of Brazil’s emissions and deforestation can lead to new pandemics. “The destruction of forest habitat also threatens to introduce more zoonotic diseases that could turn into another global pandemic,” he says.

The UN rapporteur insists that Brazil has made “significant and commendable progress” in containing deforestation, with an 82 percent decline in the decade prior to 2014, designating protected areas, reinforcing the law and its enforcement, and implementing satellite imaging.

The document says that, “disturbingly,” the monitoring of what seems to be a large-scale criminal operation, such as the perpetration of fires in the Amazon, is “virtually non-existent,” and impunity reigns.

According to the document, the FUNAI (National Indian Foundation) is operating with only ten percent of its budget, while other bodies have been entirely eliminated. “Ninety percent of the ianomami population has highly dangerous levels of mercury in their bodies,” the document notes.

Deadly country for human rights activists

According to the report, civil society and labor unions are under attack in Brazil. “Leaders, without any justification, advocate the term ‘terrorists,’ blaming them for environmental disasters like the August 2019 oil spill,” it says. “Institutions with a mandate to ensure the involvement of civil society have been undermined, while others are now closed to participation,” it says.

The report notes that Brazil was the deadliest country for environmental human rights activists in 2016, and ranked fourth in 2018, with figures pointing to an increase in 2019.

Over 300 people were murdered between 2009 and 2019 in connection with land and resource conflicts in the Amazon, many by perpetrators of illegal logging, but only 14 cases were brought before the courts. “The failure to address this impunity underscores the notion that such human rights violations can be tolerated,” it warns.

According to the UN rapporteur, yet another debate refers to the role of science and health in the current government. “Where it is not ignored, science is under attack in Brazil,” he notes.

“Reports of political interference at several levels to suppress the collection, sharing, or publication of health data are worrisome,” the report stresses. The document notes the removal of the Ministry of Health’s website that monitors Covid-19, and the discrediting of case statistics, hindered by the low capacity to run tests and the slow implementation of test kits, obscured health data, particularly in relation to the favelas and rural areas,” it states.

More pesticides

Another point highlighted by the report is the increase in pesticide use in Brazil by over 338 percent since 2000. “Brazil has been among the three largest consumers of pesticides in the world, and even the largest consumer for over a decade,” it says.

According to the report, the rapporteur received denunciations about the alleged use of pesticides as “chemical weapons” to evict indigenous and Afro-Brazilian communities from their lands.

Another alert refers to the trend of approving new pesticides as being “worrying. “Thirty percent of the active ingredients (116 out of 393 substances) in Brazil are not approved in the EU,” noted the UN rapporteur. In 2019 alone, Brazil authorized the introduction of 474 new pesticide products,” it added.

Among the dozens of recommendations to the Brazilian government, the report calls for an economic growth model that does not hinge on environmental degradation, in addition to the urgent mobilization of resources and capacity to monitor and enforce all environmental protections.

The document also suggests respecting “the fundamental role of public engagement in democracy and good governance, including the invaluable role of human rights activists, and fully protecting this commitment.”

Source: UOL