VZCZCXRO5653
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #1003/01 2061636
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 241636Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2170
INFO RUEHZJ/HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 8316
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 6450
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 2489
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0267

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 001003 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DRL AND IO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2018 
TAGS: PHUM PREL BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL,S HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY:  FOLLOWING THE 
LEADERS 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Lisa Kubiske for reasons 
1.4 b and d 
 
Summary 
------- 
¶1. (SBU) Bolstered by economic success, the GOB demands equal 
footing with all nations, especially when it comes to foreign 
policy, and its human rights policy is no exception. 
Brazil's Constitution mandates that the second prevailing 
principle of its international relations is human rights. 
Even so, from the top down the GOB avoids taking a stance on 
its own and refuses to confront a derelict state directly if 
there is potential for negative fallout.  Ministry of 
Exterior Relations (MRE) officials stick to a party line that 
does not accept the legitimacy of a single state (usually 
implying the U.S.) to criticize another state's human rights 
situation.  The GOB believes that human rights issues should 
be addressed only in international fora (the UN and the OAS), 
but even in these arenas Brazil has a reputation for not 
taking a controversial stand.  Despite a contradictory 
policy, the good news is that Brazil is working on its human 
rights failings, albeit slowly, as with any change across 
this continent-nation.  End Summary. 
 
Only in the U.N., and Not Too Much There, Either 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶2. (SBU) Brazil is a strong advocate of working issues in the 
United Nations, including through the UN Human Rights Council 
(UNHRC).  It is critical of what it perceives as the United 
States' go-it-alone approach to human rights.  Brazilians on 
the whole are extremely critical of the U.S. invasion of 
Iraq, which they see as typical of the U.S. approach to 
resolving problems.  At the same time, the GOB believes that 
the UNHRC will continue to flounder without more active USG 
participation.  MRE Director of the Human Rights and Social 
Themes Division Minister Ana Lucy Cabral Petersen has 
repeatedly stated to USG officials that the GOB wants to see 
the U.S. become an active member of the UNHRC in order to 
give it greater legitimacy.  She expressed her regret that 
the USG has withdrawn from the UNHRC although understands our 
reasoning. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Despite previous calls for the U.S. to openly 
support the UNHRC, the GOB itself does not show leadership in 
UN plenaries.  In fact, it has refused to support measures 
against countries with grave human rights situations, such as 
Sudan and Zimbabwe.  In large part, this refusal to criticize 
stems from its aspirations for a permanent UNSC seat, an 
effort which will require African support.  In addition, 
according to MRE Human Rights Division Deputy Carlos Eduardo 
da Cunha de Oliveira, Brazil is against country-specific 
resolutions for the most part, unless there is a particularly 
heinous crime being perpetrated in a member state, because 
such resolutions tend to be "politically motivated." 
However, any review of its voting record shows that Brazil 
tends to speak out more forcefully against egregious human 
rights violations when there is no Brazilian interest 
involved.  University of Brasilia Human Rights Professor 
Simone Rodgues explained that Brazil does not have a culture 
of looking outward.  She said that even though the GOB 
position on human rights may seem weak to outsiders, it is 
moving forward significantly beyond previous foreign policies 
of isolationism. 
 
Maintain dialog at all costs 
---------------------------- 
¶4. (C) Last year MRE's Under Secretary for Political Affairs, 
Ambassador Everton Vargas, clearly stated Brazil's 
oft-repeated rationale for its policy toward abuses of human 
rights when discussing Cuba with U/S Dobriansky:  "Brazil 
believes that it is much better to have dialog than no 
dialog.  In the case of Cuba, Brazil can pressure Cuba to do 
the right thing behind closed doors, but cannot do so in the 
open because then the dialog stops."  Vargas has also 
repeatedly stated that MRE is under enormous domestic 
pressure to challenge the human rights scenarios in various 
parts of the world, expecially Cuba.  However, the GOB has 
rarely bowed to this pressure, notably in statements on Tibet 
and most recently on Zimbabwe's runoff election.  Da Cunha de 
Oliveira praised Cuba for adopting two UN covenants on civic, 
educational and cultural rights, but when told that activists 
in Havana were beaten by police for passing out copies of the 
UN Declaration on Human Rights, he said that signing and 
implementation are different and the GOB expects Cuba to 
adhere to its new obligations. 
 
 
BRASILIA 00001003  002 OF 003 
 
 
When challenged, hold the line 
------------------------------ 
¶5. (SBU) In a recent interview on the "Roda Viva" program on 
TV Cultura, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim was challenged by 
professor of human geography at the University of Sao Paulo, 
Demetrio Magnoli.  Magnoli said that Brazilian foreign policy 
has "turned a blind eye" to human rights violations of many 
countries, in particular to African crises, and praises 
violators.  He also said that MRE's Secretary General Samuel 
Guimaraes' book says that "international human rights 
protection is a tactical action employed by the great powers 
in defense of their own strategic interests," and asked 
Amorim if this is why Brazilian foreign policy neglects human 
rights.  (Note:  the book that Magnoli referred to is one of 
four with significant anti-American overtones that until 2006 
were required reading for all Brazilian diplomats.  End 
Note.)  Amorim responded that Brazil has contributed greatly 
to the development of the current Human Rights Council, which 
is in the process of conducting a universal review of human 
rights for all countries. 
 
A poor record, but working on it 
-------------------------------- 
¶6. (SBU) Brazil has seen every kind of human rights violation 
within its borders.  Recent international press articles have 
brought to light slave labor in the charcoal industry (for 
pig iron) as well as in sugar cane (for ethanol), 
extrajudicial police killings, deplorable prison conditions 
leading to frequent riots, and even minor females being 
incarcerated in the same cells as men.  The truth is that 
none of this is new.  MRE Illicit Transnational Crimes 
General Coordination Office Secretary Eric Sogocio points out 
that forced labor has existed in Brazil since its inception, 
but only in the last few years has the GOB addressed the 
problem in its criminal code.  He acknowledged that there is 
still work to be done, particularly since until recently only 
women were seen as victims of trafficking from a legal 
standpoint.  Acclaimed reporter and editorialist Miriam 
Leitao pointed out that there have been more deaths in Brazil 
due to rural violence over the past 20 years (including 
police actions) than the total number of American soldiers 
killed in action over the entire history of the U.S.  Marco 
Antonio de Almeida, General Director of the Federal 
District's Prison system says that prison riots are common in 
Brazil because the GOB does not budget enough to bring them 
up to the standards in developed countries -- he prays that 
the 2006 Sao Paulo riots, when 43 prisons rebelled 
simultaneously, has made GOB officials cognizant of the 
deficiencies so that funding will continue to increase. 
UNIFEM Director Ana Fallu points out that Brazil is the most 
unequal society in the world.  She says that women in 
poverty, particularly women of color, are the most vulnerable 
to human rights abuses in Brazil. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Despite these problems, the GOB has indeed made some 
real progress in dealing with many of its human rights 
issues.  Da Cunha de Oliveira notes that Brazil is a newborn 
democracy compared to the U.S. and that it is still learning 
how to implement its constitution in the right way.  He notes 
that sometimes it gives too many freedoms and protects the 
rights of human rights abusers from serving proper prison 
sentences.  He believes this is a result of over-reactions in 
the constitution from fear of another repressive military 
regime.  But, he says, the GOB's strong point is that it 
works closely and openly with civil society.  Indeed, NGOs 
have a great deal of reach within Brazil, and in evaluation 
of the UNHRC's Universal Periodic Review process PolOffs 
discovered that those groups that participated with the GOB 
said that it was transparent and effective.  Da Cunha de 
Oliveira also says that the federal government can only 
develop the policy, but that individual states and 
municipalities often are ineffective at implementation. 
Although this is somewhat true, the GOB fails also to offer a 
"carrot and stick" approach to aid in the implementation of 
most of its human rights legislation.  There is, however, a 
notable exception, the Ministry of Labor's "dirty list" which 
places users of forced labor in the public eye until 
corrective action is taken. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶8. (SBU) Extensive conversations with Brazilian officials 
reveal that there really is no concrete aim of its human 
rights policies beyond merely ensuring that it has a voice in 
international fora.  The GOB's tenacity to claim that only 
the UN has true authority on human rights issues really only 
 
BRASILIA 00001003  003 OF 003 
 
 
serves to subordinate GOB thinking on such issues, the 
opposite of what MRE seems to want.  Morality is a 
double-edged sword for Brazil's stated policy because of the 
clear hypocrisy when it steadfastly refuses to condemn a 
violator-state with its UN votes if that country can provide 
some tangible support for a Brazilian interest.  Eventually 
as Brazil spreads its wings and moves toward becoming a 
"developed" nation, it will be forced to make tougher 
statements that it will have to defend publicly in the 
international court of public opinion. 
KUBISKE