In establishing the Council in 2006, the General Assembly provided that Council members “shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights” and “fully cooperate with the Council.” Brazil’s voluntary pledges and commitments for the upcoming elections include “strengthening and improving the international human rights system and the HRC in an integral and comprehensive manner, based on its founding principles,” among which are the aforementioned.
Since taking office in January 2023, your administration has taken a strong stance on human rights in foreign policy, including by calling out the incompatibility between democracy and racism, advocating for the right to free primary and secondary education, and committing to promoting women’s rights before the Council. You have also elevated the issues of poverty and hunger and the protection of the environment on the global agenda.
At the same time, we had hoped that you would have taken advantage of your recent interactions with Chinese authorities and of renewed diplomatic ties with Venezuela to condemn the serious human rights abuses taking place under those governments and promote non recurrence. Given that you have also repeatedly shown interest in leading peace talks to bring about an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, we had also hoped that you could have included in the center of your calls the need for accountability for serious crimes, in addition to having criticized United States President Joe Biden’s recent decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, a move that does not contribute to peace and could put more Ukrainian civilians’ lives at risk for years to come.
We would like to encourage your government to ensure that Brazil plays a greater role in the promotion of human rights worldwide, as mandated by its own constitution, addressing human rights abuses in a principled and consistent manner—regardless of the ideology of any particular government and not driven by geo-political interests—on the basis of the principles of universality and impartiality, which Brazil highlights in its voluntary pledges and commitments.
In this respect we would like to draw your attention to the Objective Criteria developed by a cross-regional group of countries to “help [the Human Rights Council] decide, in an objective and non-selective manner, when the Council should usefully engage with a concerned State, to prevent, respond to, or address violations and to assist in de-escalation of a situation of concern.” The Objective Criteria were set out in a statement to the HRC in 2016 delivered by Ireland and are a helpful tool for assessing when the HRC should take action on a country situation.
It is our understanding that Brazil is in a uniquely strong position to use its seat at the Council, if successfully elected, to influence other countries—particularly its Latin American neighbors and countries that are also members or are seeking membership of the BRICS—to assume concrete human rights commitments. For instance, it could publicly call for the establishment of a UN-backed independent investigation into killings and abuses of the hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers at the Yemen-Saudi border by Saudi border guards. It could, as in the past, be a leading principled voice to press Iranian authorities to change course on their relentless repression of peaceful dissent. It could also pledge to work with other states from all regional groups to follow up on the damning UN report on Xinjiang (China), which concluded that the Chinese government has committed human rights abuses that may amount to crimes against humanity.
In its reemergence on the global human rights stage, Brazil should take unequivocal steps to undo a misguided foreign policy and abandon double standards on human rights. In the region, as in the world, your administration should work with local and international civil society groups to promote safety, justice, and equality for all.
Thus, we would like to draw your attention to key human rights concerns we believe Brazil could positively impact. We are attaching a briefing paper with recommendations on thematic and country-specific situations that we urge you to consider not only if successfully elected to the Council, but through active bilateral and multilateral diplomacy and international justice.
While not exhaustive, it highlights the key role Brazil can play in advancing international justice, fighting systemic racism in law enforcement, strengthening the right to education, and protecting the rights of migrants. The briefing paper also outlines abuses in Latin America and the Caribbean, including the crackdown on dissent in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba; the undermining of democratic institutions in El Salvador; the political crisis and the excessive use of force against protesters in Peru; and the political, humanitarian, and security crisis in Haiti.
Finally, it addresses the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians by Israeli authorities; the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine and violations of international humanitarian law; the violent crackdown against protests in Iran; and China’s heavy-handed control in Xinjiang and Tibet, and the cultural persecution and arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims.