Brazil

DATE OF REVIEW: 11 April 2008 - 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 a.m.

Membership of the Human Rights Council: June 2006 - June 2011

Full name: Federative Republic of Brazil
Population: 190,010,647(July 2007 est., CIA factbook)

Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations Office in Geneva:
Avenue Louis Casaï 71
1216 Cointrin
Tel: +41 22 929 09 00
Fax: +41 22 788 25 05
Email: mission.brazil delbrasgva.org

Permanent Representative:
His Excellency Mr. Clodoaldo Hugueney
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

Government type: Federal Republic
Head of State: President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (since 2003)

National Human Rights Mechanisms:
- Human Rights Commission
- National Secretariat for Human Rights

Pledges and commitments: Brazil’s voluntary pledges and commitments for the election to the Human Rights Council (submitted March 17th 2008)

Brazil’s position on main resolutions and decisions at the HRC:

In favour: A/HRC/RES/1/2, A/HRC/DEC/1/106, A/HRC/DEC/1/107, A/HRC/RES/S-1/1, A/HRC/RES/S-2/1, A/HRC/RES/S-3/1, A/HRC/RES/2/3, A/HRC/RES/2/4, A/HRC/DEC/2/109, A/HRC/DEC/2/115, A/HRC/RES/3/1, A/HRC/DEC/3/103, A/HRC/RES/4/5, A/HRC/DEC/4/103, A/HRC/RES/6/3, A/HRC/RES/6/7, A/HRC/RES/6/19, A/HRC/RES/6/37, A/HRC/RES/S-6/1, A/HRC/RES/7/1, A/HRC/RES/7/4, A/HRC/RES/7/5, A/HRC/RES/7/11, A/HRC/RES/7/15, A/HRC/RES/7/18, A/HRC/RES/7/30, A/HRC/RES/7/33, A/HRC/RES/7/36, A/HRC/RES/8/5, A/HRC/RES/8/9

Against:

Abstained: A/HRC/2/L.48 (rejected), A/HRC/RES/4/9, A/HRC/RES/6/22, A/HRC/RES/7/19

No vote:

For the full list of resolutions and decisions taken by the HRC, see here.

International Human Rights treaties

TreatyDate of SignatureDate of ratificationDate of accession
1. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948 11.12.1948 15.04.1952
2. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1966 07.03.1966 27.03.1968
2.a. Amendment to article 8 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1992NO ACTION
3. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 24.01.1992
4. International Covenant on Civil and Political Right, 1966 24.01.1992
5. Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right, 1966 NO ACTION
6. Convention on the non-applicability of statutory limitations to war crimes and crimes against humanity, 1968 NO ACTION
7. International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, 1973 NO ACTION
8. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 31.03.1981 01.02.1984
8.a. Amendment to article 20, paragraph 1 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 199505.03.1997 (acceptance)
8.b. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1999 13.03.2001 28.06.2002
9. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984 23.09.198528.09.1989
9.a. Amendments to articles 17 (7) and 18 (5) of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1992NO ACTION
9.b. Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 2002 13.10.2003 12.01.2007
10. International Convention against Apartheid in Sports, 1985 NO ACTION
11. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 26.01.1990 24.09.1990
11.a. Amendment to article 43 (2) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1995 26.02.1998 (acceptance)
11.b. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, 2000 06.09.2000 27.01.2004
11.c. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, 2000 06.09.2000 27.01.2004
12. Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, 1989 NO ACTION
13. International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 1990 NO QCTION
14. Agreement establishing the Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1992 24.07.1992 17.06.1998
15. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 30.03.2007
15.a. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 30.03.2007
16. International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 2006 06.02.2007

Reservations, Declarations and Objections

Declarations and Reservations

11.b. Declaration:
"With regard to article 3, paragraph 2, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Brazilian Government declares that, according to article 143 of the Federal Constitution, military service is compulsory, as set forth by law. The Constitution also provides that it is within the competence of the Armed Forces, according to the law, to assign an alternative service to those who, in times of peace, after being enlisted, claim imperative of conscience. Women and clergymen are exempt from compulsory military service in times of peace, but are subject to other duties assigned by law. According to the Military Service Act (Law no 4.375, of 17 August 1964), the obligation to military service, in times of peace, begins the 1st January of the year the citizen becomes 18 years old (article 5). Pursuant to the Regulation of the Military Service (Decree no 57.654, of 20 January 1966), citizens may freely present themselves to voluntary military service provided they have the minimum age of 16 years (article 41, paragraph 1 and article 49, paragraph 4). However, their acceptance to voluntary military service is only possible from the 1st January of the year they become 17 years old (article 127). The acceptance of voluntaries to Military Service requires special authorization from the Armed Forces (Military Service Act, article 27). Pursuant to the Regulation of the Military Service, the civil incapacity to act, to the purposes of military service, ends on the date the citizen becomes 17 years old. Voluntaries who, upon the act of incorporation or enrollment to the military service, have not yet completed 17 years old, must present written consent from parents or guardians (article 239)."

Objections:

1. “The Government of Brazil objects to the reservations made to the Convention by Bulgaria, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Czechoslovakia, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Brazilian Government considers the said reservations as incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention. The position taken by the Government of Brazil is founded on the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice of 28 May 1951 and on the resolution adopted by the sixth session of the General Assembly on 12 January 1952, on reservations to multilateral conventions.
The Brazilian Government reserves the right to draw any such legal consequences as it may deem fit from its formal objection to the above-mentioned reservations.”

Sources: www.ohchr.org







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