Brazil Presents Progress and Challenges in Human Rights to the UN

Brasilia, May 22 (Prensa Latina) Minister of Human Rights Secretariat, Maria do Rosario Nunes, said today that Brazil shows progress in the defense of individual liberties, but also has significant challenges in this field.

Nunes received in her office several foreign correspondents to discuss Brazil's submission of the second quadrennial (2008-2011) report on the subject in the Human Rights Council of the United Nations beginning Friday in Geneva, Switzerland.

The minister said the strengthening of democracy and increase in participation of civil society are the most significant advances in protecting the fundamental rights of the people and she also praised the fact that for the first time Brazil is growing economically with social inclusion.

We also will show as a fulfillment of the commitments, the installation of the National Truth Commission, charged with investigating violations of individual freedoms in Brazil between 1946 and 1988, a stage that includes the military dictatorship (1964-1985).

As another milestone in the country in recent years, the minister noted the rise of nearly 40 million Brazilians to the middle class, when 28 million of them were in absolute poverty.

Nunes said that among the challenges for the immediate future is the eradication of poverty in the country, with the output of the misery of the 16.2 million Brazilians who still live in those conditions.

Nunes also stated the need to continue working with police to reduce and if possible eliminate the use of excessive force by the repressive body, and also highlighted the legal project on the National System for Confronting Torture, currently under discussion in Congress.

(2012-05-22/plenglish)