Brazil

Active Cases

Brazil: Andre Fernandes targeted with death and forced into exile

Andre Fernandes is a social activist in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Because of his work he has been targeted with death threats, which forced him into “exile” in southern Brazil. He came back to Rio de Janeiro at the end of 2006. Since his return he has again received death threats and has had to leave Rio de Janeiro for his own safety.  

• Andre Fernandes
• Brazil
• death threats
• forced into exile
• Front Line
• human rights
• human rights defender

• Brazil

Human rights defenders in Brazil are subject to threats, physical assaults, killings, arbitrary detention, and unwarranted judicial harassment including defamation suits.

Due to the diversity of the population, “Brazilian defenders come from varied backgrounds including human rights activists, members of the clergy, relatives of victims, community leaders, trade unionists, environmental activists, students, academics, lawyers, journalists and some civil servants.” Some employees of public authorities who are considered to be human rights defenders have been subjected to intimidation and harassment. The work of Brazilian human rights defenders encompasses many different issues, in particular the defence of economic, social and cultural rights which include the promotion of agragarian reform in particular the land rights of rural workers, indigenous rights, the rights of people of African descent, the rights of LGBT individuals and labour rights, as well as defending civil and political rights and monitoring and reporting on human rights abuses and corruption. Defenders of LGBT rights are a particularly vulnerable group in Brazil as they face threats to their physical integrity and in some instances defenders working in this sphere have been both tortured and killed as they have drawn attention to discrimination against LGBT individuals and the continuing impunity for crimes against them. A Working Group to discuss the establishment of a governmental policy on the protection of human rights defenders was created in May 2003 and in July 2004 it recommended the establishment of a National Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (Programa Nacional de Proteção dos Defensores de Direitos Humanos) and a National Coordinating Committee was established to implement the program. There are concerns that the Program is not effective. Front Line and Justicia Global have published a joint report on the situation of human rights defenders in Brazil entitled, “Front Line Brazil: Murders, Death Threats and Other Forms of Intimidation of Human Rights Defenders, 1997-2001”. In 2006, Justiça Global and Terra de Direitos released a second updated report entitled, “On the Front Line: Human Rights Defenders in Brazil 2002 – 2005”. The UN SRSG on the situation of human rights defenders carried out an official country visit to Brazil from 5-20 December 2005.