Open letter to Brazil’s presidential candidates

Democracy and Human Rights are inseparable!

In September of this year, we will commemorate the Bicentennial of Brazil's Independence. In October, the Brazilian people will go to the polls to elect who will take the office of the Presidency of the Republic. State governments and seats in the Legislative Assembly and the Chamber of Deputies will also be at stake, as well as the renewal of part of the Federal Senate. A lot is at stake and democracy is under attack. We are on the verge of the most consequential and decisive Brazilian election since the fall of the military dictatorship, in 1985.

In this scenario, the D. Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for the Defense of Human Rights – the Arns Commission – and the Vladimir Herzog Institute are united in proposing that the best way to celebrate the Bicentennial of Independence will be to reaffirm, through words and actions, unconditional adherence to the republican and democratic principles that underlie the 1988 Constitution.

The defense of the Democratic Rule of Law includes the uninterrupted promotion of Human Rights, which have the right to life as their fundamental source, derived from the recognition and acknowledgment of the dignity of every human being, in its full diversity. Thus, Democracy and Human Rights are inseparable. But it is not enough that such assumptions are present in our Fundamental Law. It is necessary to transform them into concrete practices, strengthening the State's commitment to Brazilian society, in accordance with the international declarations, treaties, and pacts it has signed.

Despite the intentions and claims of those who wish to plunder democracy, the October elections will express the political conscience of Brazilian society. The vote of each and every man and woman has the same value, regardless of any variable anomalous to the equality of citizenship. The broad participation in the elections – with the possibility of renewal and course correction – opens a door of hope in these dark times in Brazil, marked by political, social, economic, and environmental crises.

It is with this hope that we propose the implementation of a plan for the democratic reconstruction of the country, starting with the firm defense and protection of the electoral process, about which we specifically request the following:

- Safeguard, assurance, and expansion of the right to information, through the different media outlets and with constant vigilance over the dissemination of deliberately fraudulent news.

- Full freedom of expression, respecting the work of journalists and communicators, according to transparent rules that are democratically approved and shared.

- Guarantee, through all necessary measures, the physical security and safety of candidates in interviews, debates, public demonstrations, and political propaganda.

- Repudiation, by seeking legal sanctions, of digital crimes such as hate speech, conspiracy theories, threats, and any form of discrimination and attacks against democratic institutions.

- Respect for the Electoral Justice and its monitoring instruments, as well as the prompt recognition of the results of the polls.

Regarding the commitment to Democracy and Human Rights, we require the following from the presidential candidates:

- Urgent policies in confronting serious social problems, such as hunger, unemployment, and the expressive increase of the population living on the streets.

- To combat all forms of racism, a structural problem in our society, whose effects humiliate and kill, perpetuating prejudice, bias, and discrimination among Brazilians.

- Protection for the rights of native peoples, Indigenous peoples, quilombolas, and the river-dweller population, in defense of their lands and ways of life, with the definitive and permanent refutation of the “Time Frame” thesis.- Commitment to ending the impunity of those who murder Indigenous people and environmental defenders, on their own behalf or through orders from third parties, who are also responsible for such crimes.

- Restructuring of scientific and environmental inspection agencies, which today have been dismantled or undermined, including the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBIO), the National Indigenous Foundation (FUNAI), and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), as well as due compliance with their technical recommendations.

- Repudiation of torture and of “exclusion of illegality/justification,” this strange legal concept that sometimes is used and intended to confer impunity for violence committed by police officers.

- Revision of the security policies that end up affecting, primarily, Black people, the poor, and the people who live in peripheries.

- Defense and protection of the dignity and freedom of all religions, especially those that today suffer obscurantist persecution, such as those of African origin. - Confrontation of gender discrimination and violence against women, with emphasis on combating femicide.

- Protection of human rights activists, who have been targets of constant death threats, and of groups vulnerable to discrimination and intolerance, such as the LGBTQIA+ population.

- Radical defense of public, secular, and quality education at all levels, which requires encouraging projects of education in Human Rights, based on the culture of peace.

- Strengthening of the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde – SUS, in Portuguese) to guarantee the full right to health to Brazilians and to face the after-effects and the long-term effects left by COVID-19.

- Last, but not least, we require the implementation of the guidelines of the National Human Rights Plans, as well as all the recommendations of the final report of theNational Truth Commission (Comissão Nacional da Verdade – CNV, in Portuguese), whose work entrusted to Brazilian society the clarification of serious violations that occurred during Brazil’s dictatorship.

The plan presented here will require a shift on the part of the constituted powers. Changes in direction will be necessary; however, there are no alternatives in order to take this path: there will be no democratic future, with freedom and social justice, without the foundation of Human Rights.

It is with this conviction that the Arns Commission and the Vladimir Herzog Institute call upon the candidates for the Presidency of the Republic to sign, right now, a public commitment to respect life, freedom, the culture of peace, and the universal agenda of Human Rights.

São Paulo, August 7, 2022