IACHR
Press Release
IACHR conducts on site visit to Brazil
November 1, 2018
IACHR Press and Communication Office
Tel: +1 (202) 370-9000
cidh-prensa@oas.org
Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will conduct an on-site visit to Brazil from November 5-12, 2018, at the invitation of the Brazilian Government received in early 2018. The Commission is grateful for the cooperation of the Brazilian Government and civil society organizations in the planning and preparation of the visit.
The delegation that will conduct the visit will be headed by the President of the IACHR, Margarette May Macaulay; the First Vice President, Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño; the Second Vice President, Luis Ernesto Vargas Silva; Commissioners Francisco José Eguiguren Praeli and Joel Hernández García, and Commissioner Antonia Urrejola Noguera, Rapporteur for Brazil. The delegation also includes the Chief of Staff, Marisol Blanchard; the Assistant Executive Secretary, María Claudia Pulido; the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Edison Lanza; the Special Rapporteur for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Soledad García Muñoz; and specialists from the Executive Secretariat.
The IACHR will conduct field observations on the human rights situation in the country, focusing on the following cross-cutting themes: discrimination, inequality, poverty, democratic institutions and public policies on human rights. In particular, it will look at the situation of persons of African descent and traditional Afro-descendant peoples (Quilombolas); indigenous communities and peoples; peasants and rural workers; the urban population living in poverty, human rights defenders; people deprived of their liberty and migrants, among others. Within these areas, the IACHR will pay special attention to groups that have historically found themselves in situations of discrimination, vulnerability and exclusion. In addition, the IACHR will gather information on the situation of citizen security, both urban and rural, as well as on conflicts over lands and territories. The Inter-American Commission will also observe the situation of access to justice and the possible situation of impunity for serious human rights violations.
The delegation will visit Brasilia, as well as the states of Bahia, Maranhão, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pará, Rio de Janeiro, Roraima and São Paulo. The Inter-American Commission delegation plans to meet with government authorities at the federal, state and local levels. It will also meet with civil society organizations, social movements, and academics; and gather testimonies of victims of human rights violations and family members in the different places that will be visited. The IACHR will also hold meetings with United Nations agencies and members of the diplomatic corps.
During the visit, there will be two offices of the IACHR to receive complaints and petitions within the framework of its mandate under the American Convention on Human Rights. One of the offices will be located in Brasilia and will be open from November 5th to 7th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Hotel B. The other office will operate in Rio de Janeiro on November 8th from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm and on November 9th from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the Hilton Copacabana Hotel.
The IACHR will present its preliminary observations at the end of its visit, in a press conference to be held on Monday, November 12 at 11:00 am at the Hilton Hotel - Rio de Janeiro.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 232/18