We are finalizing a series on Human Rights on the IDP Blog.
At this time, we would like to briefly present the cases in which Brazil was brought before the Inter-American System of Human Rights and condemned by the Court.
Come on!
2006: Ximenes Lopes vs. Brazil Case
Source: Defendant Brazil
Damião Ximenes Lopes was diagnosed with schizophrenia and admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 1999. He was subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment during his stay in the hospital, leading to his death in 2001.
The Brazilian State was condemned by the Inter-American Court for violating Damião's right to life and personal integrity. It also ruled that Brazil failed to guarantee the right to judicial protection for the victim's family.
It established reparation measures, such as resuming investigations into mistreatment and creating a training and capacity-building program for mental health professionals in the country.
2009: Escher et al. v. Brazil Case
Source: Defendant Brazil
This is a case of interception and monitoring of the telephone lines of members of community organizations that maintained a relationship with the MST (Landless Workers' Movement), sharing the objective of promoting agrarian reform.
The wiretapping carried out by the Military Police of the State of Paraná between April and July 1999 was illegal and without justification. Fragments of the conversations were released to the press with judicial authorization.
The Court condemned Brazil for violating the rights to privacy, honor, and freedom of association. It ordered the payment of compensation to the victims and the duty to investigate and punish those responsible for the wiretapping.
2009: Garibaldi vs. Brazil Case
Source: Defendant Brazil
Sétimo Garibaldi was murdered on November 27, 1998, in Querência do Norte/PR, in the context of an extrajudicial eviction at the São Francisco Farm, which was occupied by 50 families of landless workers.
He was killed, bleeding profusely, as a result of a gunshot wound to his left leg inflicted by hooded men who attacked the occupied area.
The Court condemned Brazil for failing to investigate and punish those responsible, violating the rights to due process and judicial protection for Garibaldi's family. It ordered the reopening of the case within the domestic legal system.
2010: Gomes Lund and Others Case (“Araguaia Guerrilla”) vs. Brazil
Source: Defendant Brazil
The case concerns the arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance, and extrajudicial execution of 70 people, including members of the PCB (Brazilian Communist Party) and peasants from the Araguaia region of Tocantins.
It was the result of operations carried out by the Brazilian Army between 1972 and 1975 with the aim of eradicating the Araguaia Guerrilla, in the context of the military dictatorship.
Criminal prosecution was suspended by the approval of the Amnesty Law (Law No. 6.683/79) , which was deemed constitutional by the Supreme Federal Court in ADPF No. 153/DF.
The Court considered that the Brazilian Amnesty Law prevents the investigation and prosecution of serious human rights violations, being incompatible with the American Convention – in other words, unconventional.
It also declared Brazil responsible for the enforced disappearance and for failing to adapt its domestic legal system to the Convention. It considered that Brazil violated the rights to truth, life, personal liberty, personal integrity, judicial guarantees and protections, and freedom of thought and expression.
It imposed the obligation to investigate and punish, in addition to implementing a permanent Human Rights course for members of the Armed Forces, defining the crime of enforced disappearance, and creating an independent Truth Commission.
2016: Case of Workers of the Fazenda Brasil Verde vs. Brazil
Source: INTERSINDICAL
This is a case of workers being subjected to conditions analogous to slavery, forced labor, debt bondage, and human trafficking within the context of the Fazenda Brasil Verde farm in Pará.
Those who managed to escape claimed they were prevented from leaving. They received no salary, food, or decent housing, and were under constant threat of death.
The group was mostly made up of men aged 15 to 40, black and mixed-race, from the poorest states in the country, in situations with limited job opportunities.
The State was aware of the Fazenda Brasil Verde and the violations in 1989, but remained inactive regarding punishment and prevention of human rights abuses.
The Court declared Brazil responsible for violating the right not to be subjected to slavery. It determined that the State must initiate investigations within a reasonable timeframe, prosecuting and punishing appropriately.
2017: Favela Nova Brasília Case vs. Brazil
Source: Jusbrasil
This case involves the extrajudicial executions of 26 people, including six children, as part of police raids carried out by the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police in 1994 and 1995 in the Nova Brasília favela.
The deaths were justified by the police as acts of resistance to arrest. Some of the victims were tortured and sexually assaulted.
The State was condemned for violating the rights to personal integrity, freedom of movement and residence, and judicial guarantees and protections. It must reopen investigations, identify and punish those responsible, and pay compensation to the victims.
2018: Case of the Xucuru Indigenous People and its members vs. Brazil
Source: Defendant Brazil
It deals with violations against the Xucuru Indigenous People, located in the Serra do Ororubá, Pernambuco.
There was a delay of more than 16 years in the administrative process of recognizing, granting title to, demarcating, and delimiting their ancestral lands. There was also a delay in the complete removal of non-indigenous people from these territories, so that the indigenous people could exercise their rights.
The Court condemned Brazil for violating the right to collective property and judicial protection due to delays in recognizing and demarcating lands.
2018: The Herzog and Others Case vs. Brazil
Source: Memorial of Democracy
Journalist Vladimir Herzog was arbitrarily detained, tortured, and killed on October 25, 1975, on military premises in São Paulo during the military dictatorship.
The acts remain unpunished by virtue of the Amnesty Law.
The Court considered the attack against Herzog a crime against humanity and therefore not subject to any statute of limitations. The rights to judicial guarantees, judicial protections, and the psychological and moral integrity of his family members were violated.
The State was ordered to restart the appropriate investigation and criminal proceedings to identify, prosecute, and punish those responsible, in addition to providing compensation.
2021: Case of Employees of the Santo Antônio de Jesus Fireworks Factory vs. Brazil
Source: Defendant Brazil
In 1998, a fireworks factory exploded in the city of Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia, killing 64 people, including 22 children.
There was a lack of oversight at the factory, whose dangerous and irregular industrial activities, as well as child labor, were already known.
According to the Court, Brazil violated the rights to life, integrity, equal protection of the law, prohibition of discrimination, and the right to work, in addition to failing to fulfill its obligations to inspect the factory.
2022: Sales Pimenta vs. Brazil Case
Source: JOTA
This is Brazil's latest conviction. Gabriel Sales Pimenta was a lawyer defending the land rights of small producers in Pau Seco, Pará.
Following legal disputes, he was killed with three shots to the back, at point-blank range, in Marabá, Pará. The legal process was marred by a series of omissions, culminating in its expiration almost 25 years after the crime. To this day, there has been no punishment.
The Court understood that the State violated the rights to judicial guarantees, judicial protection, truth, and personal integrity by failing to investigate, prosecute, and punish the perpetrators of the crime.
Want to learn more about this topic? Discover the Postgraduate Program in Constitutional Law at IDP and deepen your knowledge of Human Rights and the International Protection of Fundamental Rights.
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References
PIOVESAN, Flávia. Course on Human Rights: Inter-American System. São Paulo: Grupo GEN, 2021.
RAMOS, André de Carvalho. International human rights process . 6th ed. São Paulo: Editora Saraiva, 2019.
