Two International Condemnations of Brazil
Jefferson Nascimento, lawyer, has a PhD in International Law from the University of São Paulo (USP) and the coordinator of the Human Rights program at the Washington Brazil Office. This article was written by Nascimento especially for issue 109 of the WBO weekly newsletter, dated Mars 22, 2024. To subscribe to the newsletter, enter your email in the field below.
On March 14, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued two sentences related to cases involving Brazil. It was the first time that two cases involving the country were released on the same day since 2002, when Brazil accepted the jurisdiction of the court, which is based in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Brazil is the largest state under the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court, as the United States has not ratified the American Convention on Human Rights and is therefore not under the court's scrutiny. However, Brazil's demographic weight does not translate into the number of cases in the Inter-American Court: Brazil has only received 20 sentences, behind Peru (109), Guatemala (57), Colombia (48), Ecuador (45), Argentina (41), Venezuela (34) and Honduras (27).
The first case (Tavares Pereira et al. vs. Brazil) recently judged by the Inter-American Court involves an episode that occurred on May 2, 2000 in the State of Paraná in southern Brazil. Members of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), including families with children, were intercepted by the Military Police of the State of Paraná while heading to the state capital, Curitiba, for a march to demand agrarian reform. The impediment was allegedly motivated by an executive order prohibiting protesters from entering the city. The situation escalated into acts of violence by the police, resulting in the death of rural worker Antônio Tavares Pereira, with another 197 people affected and 69 injured. The Inter-American Court declared Brazil responsible for the disproportionate use of force by the Military Police of the State of Paraná, resulting in the violation of the right to life of Tavares Pereira and the physical integrity of the dozens of injured people, in addition to violations of freedom of expression, assembly and movement. It also recognized that the Brazilian State failed to adequately investigate the events and the related criminal proceedings, leading to impunity and violation of the rights of victims and their families to judicial guarantees and judicial protection. The Court also pointed out the violation of the personal integrity of Tavares Pereira's family due to his death and the subsequent lack of investigation and punishment.
As reparation, measures were determined such as psychological treatment for the victims, acts of recognition of international responsibility, and the obligation for Brazil to adjust its legal system related to the competence of the Military Justice, in addition to inserting specific content about dealing with public demonstrations in the training of the Paraná security forces.
“The Inter-American Court decision highlight not only past violations, but also current problems that affect the population, especially Indigenous and Black people, marked by land disputes and police abuse”
The second case (Honorato et al. vs. Brazil) alludes to the extrajudicial execution of 12 people by the Military Police of the State of São Paulo during "Operation Castelinho" on March 5, 2002. The operation, not authorized by the courts and without supervision by the Public Ministry, used undercover informants – people serving sentences – among the victims. These informants lured the group into an ambush under the pretext of a robbery of a plane carrying valuables. Upon arriving at the location, the individuals were killed in an attack coordinated by at least 53 Military Police officers, with no evidence that they were armed or that there had been a confrontation. The Inter-American Court declared Brazil responsible for violations of the right to life, to the personal integrity of victims' families, to the truth, and to judicial guarantees and judicial protection. The investigations were marked by a lack of due diligence, manipulation of the crime scene, and obstruction of justice, resulting in impunity.
As reparatory measures, the Court of San Jose determined that Brazil must create a Working Group to investigate the actions of the police detachment involved in the episode, including extrajudicial executions, and offer preventive recommendations. The Brazilian State must implement geolocation and registration devices for vehicles and police officers, and recordings of police operations will be sent to control bodies. A regulatory framework will be established to temporarily remove police officers involved in civilian deaths, in addition to creating mechanisms to reopen investigations and legal proceedings, even with a statute of limitations. The jurisdiction of the Military Justice to investigate crimes against civilians will be eliminated, and the Public Ministry of São Paulo will receive adequate resources to investigate deaths caused by police officers.
Although the Inter-American Court focused on facts that occurred more than two decades ago, its decisions in the Tavares Pereira and Honorato cases speak to the present day, in which human rights violations against rural workers and abuses by police forces remain a sad reality.
Although the Inter-American Court focused on facts that occurred more than two decades ago, its decisions in the Tavares Pereira and Honorato cases speak to the present day, in which human rights violations against rural workers and abuses by police forces remain a sad reality.
Disputes over access to land and water and rural slave labor still affect more than half a million people in Brazil. According to data from the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), the second highest number of conflicts in the countryside recorded in the last ten years took place in the first half of 2023 with 973 incidents, an increase of 8 percent over the previous period. This violence disproportionately affected Indigenous peoples, landless rural workers, squatters and quilombolas. According to the CPT, 302 deaths have been recorded in 59 massacres in rural Brazil since 1985. Of these, 129 victims in 27 massacres occurred between 2001 and 2022, that is, after the facts of the Tavares Pereira case.
Police violence represents a serious threat to human rights in Brazil, as recognized by international organizations and, now, reiterated by the Inter-American Court. According to data from the Brazilian Public Security Forum, 51,942 people were killed in Brazil because of police intervention between 2012 and 2022. In 2022 alone, there were 6,429 deaths, representing 13.5 percent of the total Intentional Violent Deaths (MVI) recorded in the country. This is racialized violence: although they represent 56 percent of the Brazilian population, Black people make up 76.5 percent of all MVIs and 83.1 percent of victims of police interventions in Brazil.
In the specific case of the State of São Paulo, where the violations in the Honorato case occurred, civil society organizations have shed light on the recent increase in police lethality. According to data from the Public Ministry, deaths resulting from police intervention rose by 94 percent in the first two months of 2024. In 2023, 28 people were killed in 40 days of Operation Shield, dubbed by experts as a "revenge operation" by security forces in reprisal for the death of police officers, which took place in Baixada Santista in the State of São Paulo. In 2024, a new edition of the operation, called Operation Summer, began on February 7, and by mid-March, had already killed 47 people.
The Inter-American Court's recent decisions against Brazil for police violence and conflict in the countryside represent an important advance in the fight for justice and human rights. They highlight not only past violations, but also current problems that affect the population, especially Indigenous and Black people, marked by land disputes and police abuse. The reparatory measures ordered aim not only to compensate victims, but also to encourage changes in state policies to prevent future violations, reaffirming the crucial role of international accountability in promoting human rights in Brazil.
