CA blog
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7 Jul 2021
Organizations make an Urgent Appeal to the UN in favor of Indigenous lands in Brazil
The Arns Commission, together with the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, the Socio-environmental Institute, and Conectas Human Rights, signed the Urgent Appeal sent today (July 7) to the United Nations, requesting that urgent measures be taken by the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate regarding Draft Bill 490, which provides new rules for the demarcation of Indigenous lands in Brazil.
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9 Jun 2021
The Arns Commission files a Constitutional Lawsuit to the Federal Supreme Court on the National Security Law
The Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for the Defense of Human Rights filed an amicus curiae or "friend of the court" request in a lawsuit filed by the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) regarding the National Security Law with the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
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5 Jun 2021
Public Note #36 – Freedom of expression is not a case for the police
Always acting in defense of freedom of expression as a fundamental right, both in Brazil and internationally, the Arns Commission expresses its support to Rocha de Barros, while denouncing the increasing judicial harassment that journalists from various parts of the country have been suffering.
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1 Jun 2021
Arns Commission denounces human rights violations in Jacarezinho to the UN
The Arns Commission has filed an Urgent Appeal to the United Nations (UN), an international measure to denounce serious human rights violations related to the deaths of 28 people in the Jacarezinho community, in Rio de Janeiro's North Zone.
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22 May 2021
Public Note #35 – Our struggle for human rights continues!
Proudly counts on distinguished human rights defenders in Brazil and worldwide, among its founders, The Arns Commission will continue to work tirelessly, guided by one conviction: History will remember those who gave their lives to protect human dignity but will be merciless to those who defend torture, intolerance, and hatred.
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6 May 2021
Public Note #34 – The Jacarezinho Massacre: to put an end to police violence in favelas
It is necessary to react to this slaughter! May the governor of Rio, who was sworn in just five days ago, assume responsibility for this ill-fated operation. The competent authorities must ensure the preservation of the areas where the deaths took place.
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3 May 2021
Public Note #33 – Who slanders who: in support of Sônia Guajajara and APIB
It is up to Brazilian society to repudiate this affront to the rights of Sônia Guajajara and other Indigenous leaders. Moreover, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Chamber of Deputies must investigate, through clear and objective measures, the responsibilities for the practice of yet another arbitrary act, on the part of those who do not know and do not want to live in a regime where freedom and democracy prevail as a corollary to opposition and contestation.
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29 Apr 2021
Letter to the members of the COVID-19 Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI)
The scandal of thousands of daily deaths by COVID-19 cannot continue, nor can it remain in silence. The delay in the purchase of vaccines, combined with negationist speeches that never cease to cause the increase in contamination, points inexorably to the accumulation of deaths. On behalf of those we have lost and those we can preserve, we hope that the senators spare no effort and courage.
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20 Apr 2021
Open letter to the participants of the Leaders’ Summit on Climate
The Arns Commission believes that the environment must be defended by all, as a human right. In this sense, its manifestation presents a more realistic picture of what is happening in Brazil, with respect to the preservation of natural resources and traditional communities, and demands from the country's representatives in this conference clear commitments, defined deadlines, precise goals, and metrics to measure results.
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2 Apr 2021
Public Note #32 – On the coup attempts by Mr. President of the Republic
It is clear to everyone that the President of the Republic, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, is plotting a coup, whose latest label is “state of siege”, perpetuating chaos in Brazil and leaving the people at the mercy of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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25 Mar 2021
In defense of democracy
The Constitution cannot be seen as a “suicide pact,” as Justice Robert Jackson of the U.S. Supreme Court warned in 1949. Its institutions not only can but must protect it from those who would seek its erosion.
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19 Mar 2021
Public Note #31 – In support of influencer Felipe Neto
The Arns Commission express its support for the influencer Felipe Neto, who was subpoenaed by an incompetent police authority due to his use of the term "genocidal" in reference to the conduct Bolsonaro.
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15 Mar 2021
Civil society organizations support governors and mayors in the fight against the pandemic
José Carlos Dias, president of the Arns Commission, called on the governors, the mayors, the Congress, and the Supreme Federal Court to “guide our steps.” For him, Brazil is seriously ill; old and young people alike have to be sensitized. “Inaction and negationism kill!” he warned.
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15 Mar 2021
The Arns Commission and Conectas denounce Bolsonaro at the UN
The Arns Commission and Conectas Human Rights brought today, at the 46th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, a complaint against President Jair Bolsonaro regarding the federal government's disregard for the serious pandemic crisis in Brazil.
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11 Mar 2021
The people must not pay with their own lives!
There is no time to lose, negationism kills. The virus is spreading from north to south of Brazil, replicating variants, affecting different age groups, a punishing the most vulnerable. Patients die in agony due to the lack of hospital resources. The Unified Health System – SUS continues to save lives. However, health professionals, after a year on the front lines, are on the verge of burnout. To them, we offer our gratitude and appreciation.
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28 Feb 2021
Public Note #30 – In defense of the Committee for the Prevention and Combat of Torture
The president who celebrates torturers insists on imposing his negationist ideology on the legal-institutional system of human rights protection in Brazil.
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24 Jan 2021
ENOUGH!
The Arns Commission calls on all those truly committed to democracy and the right to life – citizens, civil society organizations, political parties, business and religious organizations, and, above all, the fundamental institutions of the Republic, such as the National Congress, the Federal Supreme Court, and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic – to assume their share of responsibility in the defense of the democratic regime and the Constitution, against the attacks that have been directed against them by the President of the Republic. It is necessary to put a stop to this misgovernment that has caused so much harm to the lives of Brazilians and to our democracy.
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20 Nov 2020
Public Note #29 – For the lost life of João Alberto
We demand that the lost life of João Alberto must not become a mere statistic. His death must be investigated with the diligence that the case’s seriousness imposes.
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19 Nov 2020
Manifesto in defense of civil society organizations
As is the case with any fundamental right, the right to freedom of association is not absolute. However, eventual restrictions must have constitutional justification. And, as established by the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Brazil has followed since 1992, they must be compatible with a democratic society. Controlling 100% of the NGOs in the Amazon region definitely exceeds these limits. It is worth remembering: in a democracy, it is the society that controls the government, not the other way around.
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5 Nov 2020
Public Note #28 – In support of the National Truth Commission
When delivering the final report to President Dilma, on December 10, 2014, the National Truth Commission transferred to the country its legacy in the investigation of serious human rights violations, which occurred during the historic period between two Brazilian democratic constitutions – the 1946 and the 1988 ones.
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