Noaldo Meireles, Brazil

My name is Noaldo Meireles, I am a lawyer and legal advisor for the Pastoral Commission of the Earth (a pastoral group of the Catholic Church involved in social action), and for the past year I have been the President of the Human Rights Council of the State of Paraiba, Brasil.

The situation for human rights defenders in Brazil is very difficult. It is even worse than the situation for people working on the question of the land or people working in rural areas.

It is commonplace for defenders to lack access to information, to suffer harsh working conditions, as well as to be denied a suitable national protection program. Defenders are the victims of all kinds of threats and intimidations which put their lives and their families’ lives in serious danger.

In Brazil, the human rights defender is seen as a “bandit defender”, like a convict who does not even have the right to be defended. This kind of preconceived discrimination can be noted everyday. Most frequently in the form of threats and intimidations which are often committed by civil servants or state officials and which can result in assault or death. Violations against human rights defenders hinder the work of the defender, and in extreme cases render their activities no longer viable.

As there is no official program to protect human rights defenders, defenders are forced to either risk their personal security or to join a witness protection, which requires defenders to give up their homes and/or jobs, as well as to accept protection from policemen (who may be untrustworthy or whose presence may be uncomfortable for defenders).

To ensure our security and our integrity, defenders take preventative measures such as ensuring that they are always accompanied by someone else or a group of people, do not go into some places, do not to take the bus, do not to take the same way home everyday, do not live in dangerous neighbourhoods, etc.