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Human Rights Developments
Defending Human Rights
The Role of the International CommunityBrazil was fortunate to have a broad range of human rights organizations, religious groups, civic associations and unions that worked in the documentation, defense and promotion of human rights without legal impediments. These groups were responsible for a series of campaigns related to individual cases of rights violations and regarding state policies that facilitated abuse. These efforts effectively prodded the federal and state governments to take concrete actions on a number of fronts. Federal authorities were expected to reopen the investigation of the October 1996 murder of Rio Grande do Norte human rights attorney Gilson Nogueira. The decision was the result of new evidence indicating police responsibility in the killing, as well as pressure from local and international groups which filed a petition admitted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the OAS. As recommended in the National Human Rights Program, legislative bodies at the municipal and state level either created or strengthened existing human rights commissions. These human rights commissions, though governmental by definition, acted with notable independence, receiving complaints of abuse from citizens, overseeing police, prisons and other state agents, and denouncing abuses to prosecutors and the media. In many cities and states, these human rights bodies coordinated efforts to draft municipal or state-level human rights programs, patterned on the National Human Rights Program. The continued growth of this sector in 1998 constituted perhaps the most positive development in this area. At the same time, nongovernmental organizations continued to create working ties with the federal and state governments, particularly with regard to witness protection. The Office of Legal Assistance for Grassroots Organizations (Gabinete de Assessoria Jurídica às Organizações Populares, GAJOP), a leading NGO based in Recife, worked with the Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Development Program to establish joint government-NGO witness protection programs in the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Espírito Santo, and Bahia, based on a successful program in Pernambuco state. Authorities planned to establish similar plans in four more states, including São Paulo in 1999. |
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