The United States’ annual human rights report, released Tuesday (30) by the US State Department, raised a series of concerns about Brazil, one of nearly 200 countries analyzed by the document. which highlights a deterioration of the human rights situation in the world. over the past year.
In the case of Brazil, quotes range from “unlawful or arbitrary police killings” and “widespread acts and corruption” to “violence against journalists” – the latter directly linked to President Jair Bolsonaro (no party ).
The document highlighted attacks on journalists by the president, citing a Reporters Without Borders report that the president criticized the press, verbally or on social media, 53 times in the first half of 2020.
One of the aforementioned advances was the response given to a journalist in August 2020, who questioned Fabrício Queiroz’s deposits on the account of First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro. The president replied, “I want to hit your mouth, okay?”
Former assistant to Flávio Bolsonaro (Republicanos-RJ) and his wife transferred R $ 89,000 to Michelle’s account. At first, the president replied to the journalist of the newspaper O Globo by asking him questions about the alleged monthly transfers made by the Dario Messer bureau de change to the Marinho family, owner of Rede Globo.
According to Veja magazine, in a June 24 deposition, Messer said he had made transfers of dollars in cash to the Marines on several occasions since the 1990s. The family denies any wrongdoing.
After the journalist’s insistence on payments to the first lady, Bolsonaro said he wanted to attack her.
Regarding presidential coverage, the US report also spoke specifically of the talks in front of the Palácio do Alvorada. “Several journalists were victims of verbal attacks […] leading a coalition of civil society organizations to open civil lawsuits against the government for failing to protect journalists there. “
The text recalls the decision by Folha and other vehicles to suspend coverage at the official residence due to lack of security, with frequent harassment from supporters of the president, leading the government to adopt “measures to keep journalists separate from gathered civilians outside the country, ”the report said.
In addition to attacks on the press, the document twice cites Bolsonaro’s direct actions. First of all, he mentions the decree signed on policies for the education of disabled children, with the observation that “the policy can lead to a reduction in the possibilities of schooling” for these young people. In December, the STF (Federal Supreme Court) suspended the measure.
He also mentions the action taken by the federal government against Covid-19 in indigenous communities – but he points out that “indigenous leaders have made public statements pointing out that very few of these resources have been delivered to their communities.”
Very detailed, the document cites several cases of police violence and also specifies that members of the security forces have committed various abuses. The report uses data from the Brazilian Public Security Forum, which shows that 5,804 civilians were killed by the company in 2019.
Rio de Janeiro was responsible for 30% of the national total, while it represented only 8% of the population. Regarding crimes within the state, the document mentions João Pedro Matos Pinto who, at the age of 14, died after being shot in his uncle’s house in São Gonçalo, during an operation at the Complexo do Salgueiro. “Until August, no one had been charged or arrested,” he said.
The report says the government has prosecuted those responsible, but points out that the impunity of the security forces is a problem, in addition to the delay in justice for both those who committed the abuses and the victims.
Another point in the document concerns political violence. With data from the NGO Terra de Direitos e Justiça Global, 327 cases have been identified, including murders, threats, physical violence and arrests of politicians or candidates between 2016 and September 2020. According to the text, 92 % of them targeted those working at the municipal level.
Once again, Rio is a highlight. According to data, in this state alone, nine current and former politicians were killed in 2019. The report recalls the case of the murder of City Councilor Marielle Franco (PSOL) and her driver, Anderson Gomes, in March 2018.
The text brings the arrest of former police officers Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Vieira de Queiroz and the preliminary trial which began in June 2019, but underlines that, until August, the police had not identified who had ordered the crime, and the trial of the two accused there was no fixed date.
a document accuses the abuses of American rivals
The detailed report also highlights abuses by American rivals, such as Russia, to suppress political opponents, and China, over the Uyghur issue.
“Human rights trends continue to move in the wrong direction,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters. The US foreign minister also said some governments have used the coronavirus crisis as “an excuse to restrict rights and consolidate the authoritarian regime.”
In China, the State Department points to the disappearance of four citizen journalists who reported the start of the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan. It also says researchers who have strayed from official accounts of the pandemic have faced persecution, censorship and, in some cases, intervention by academia and the police.
Still on the Beijing government, the text uses more assertive language to describe the mass detention program in Xinjiang province. In addition to the more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minority groups who claim to be in extrajudicial internment camps, the report says there are “two million more who are undergoing re-education training. “Daytime only”, a reference that does not appear in the document. Last year.
The Russia report highlights the case of one of the main opponents of the Kremlin, Alexei Navalni, arrested earlier this year on his return to the country after being treated for poisoning. The report says reliable reports indicate that officials from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) poisoned Navalni.
Blinken also said an addendum to the document is expected to be released later this year to include issues such as reproductive health, which includes information on maternal mortality and discrimination against women in access to health. sexual and reproductive health, a topic suppressed by the government of the former president. Donald Trump.