Creating bridges between international relations theory and international human rights law: constructivism and the role of Brazil in the inter-american system of human rights (original) (raw)
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Brazil and the Inter-American Human Rights System
Let me start by thanking Paulo Abrão, and Marcelo Torelly in particular, for the very kind invitation. It is a pleasure to be here. I very much look forward to the discussions as many of the themes that I would like to cover involve issues on which you are the real experts.
The Return of Brazil to the International Arena of Human Rights
Estefânia Maria de Queiroz Barboza & Melina Girardi Fachin, The Return of Brazil to the International Arena of Human Rights, Int’l J. Const. L. Blog, Feb. 12, 2023, at: http://www.iconnectblog.com/2023/02/the-return-of-brazil-to-the- international-arena-of-human-rights/, 2023
Talking about Brazil’s return to the international human rights arena has a logical antecedent assumption that presupposes its withdrawal from this stage. The Brazilian authoritarian escalation, which culminated with the election of Jair Bolsonaro, marks the Brazilian isolation in international protection forums. Brazil shifted from protagonist to peer in these matters. During the last four years, corresponding to the Bolsonaro administration, Brazil has also experienced its decline from a human rights perspective. This is not by chance because there is a common anti-human rights agenda within this populist and authoritarian wave with which Bolsonaro aligns himself. Bolsonaro’s authoritarian populism and his rise are linked to factors common to his administration. Like other populist leaders, Bolsonaro portrayed himself as a political outsider and secured his election through an anti-pluralist discourse that exploited Brazil’s economic crisis and political polarization.
Brazil is important for the present and future development of international human rights. Yet, any immediate expectations that the country will emerge as an active promoter of human rights internationally are likely to remain unfulfilled. Indeed, Brazil’s distinctiveness, both in terms of its domestic human rights record, and in terms of its historical relationship with the international human rights regime, means that the country is likely to impact on debates on the meaning and nature of human rights in the decades to come. From its membership in the so-called BRICS to its leadership role in the exclusive club of G20 countries, Brazil has indeed emerged as a pivotal player in global governance. There are also a host of domestic processes of change that have projected Brazil abroad. From Brazilian companies with mining interests in Africa, increased diplomatic activities and collaborations through various country constellations (IBSA, BRICS), through to its significant soft power projection, Brazil’s international profile is more varied and extensive than ever before. Much of the international interest in Brazil in recent years reflects a widespread view that the country matters for the outside world. The very active foreign policy agenda pursued by former president Lula da Silva raised Brazil’s international profile. And, although current president Dilma Rousseff has increasingly turned inward over the course of her administration the image of a ‘rising’ Brazil remains prevalent. It is of course not the first time that outside observers have had high expectations on Brazil. But what may be most striking in the current conjuncture is that these are increasingly matched by domestic expectations in Brazil that the country should take its rightful place in elite international fora. Whether these expectations are likely to be fulfilled is a matter of dispute. For many international observers, particularly in the financial press, the recent sluggish performance of the Brazilian economy raises significant doubts. For other even more hardnosed observers, Brazil’s limited military might, its hard power, seriously questions the capacity of Brazil to play any influential role on the global scene. Brazil remains a moderate military power, and will do so for the foreseeable future. Still, whether Brazil is actually rising – however one may measure it – is at least partly distinct from the international perceptions of and expectations on the country’s rise. It may not be quite as simple as this, but as long as these perceptions and expectations persist, Brazil will continue its ascent. Important questions remain unanswered however, regarding Brazil, the character, meaning and direction of its rise. In this short article the aim is to assess, on the one hand, the considerable hopes that many have invested in Brazil, but also, on the other hand, to illustrate the many uncertainties that accompany Brazil’s foreign policy in general and with regards to the promotion of human rights abroad in particular.
The article provides a brief background to the Inter-American system of human rights and its monitoring organs, the Inter-American Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It then focuses on the relationship between the two institutions, looking in particular at how cases are instituted before the Court. Against this background, the process of ensuring effective domestic enforcement of the Court’s judgments in Brazil is investigated with reference to two decided cases and a draft Bill pending before Congress.
Brazil, (Post-)Transitional Justice, and the Inter-American Human Rights System
This paper examines the Inter-American Human Rights System and its relevance for human rights protection in Brazil. The focus of the paper is not primarily legal or jurisprudential. Rather it locates the Inter-American System in its relevant political context to try to understand the various ways in which the System matters. The paper is particularly concerned with current processes of post-transitional justice in Brazil. By this I mean the “prospects for the revision of [the] transition-era human rights settlement” in Brazil. More specifically, the paper emphasises what types of transitional justice policies may be required from Brazil in light of the Gomes Lund ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights from November 2010. It also draws out some key implications of what the ruling, and the Brazilian government’s response to it, tell us about the prospects for and limitations on Brazilian post-transitional justice, and arguably, Brazilian democracy more broadly.
200 Years of International Relations in Brazil: Issues, Theories, and Methods
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Relations, 2022
The Brazilian field of international relations (IRs) has evolved over the course of two centuries. Since Brazilʼs independence in 1822, international topics have deserved attention from local practitioners and scholars. The emergence of Brazilian standpoints about international a airs and of a Brazilian IR scholarship developed a er the consolidation of similar fields in other Western countries. Multiple schools of thought held sway over local understandings, thereby leading to the formation of a di erent field as compared to characteristics of the Anglo-American mainstream. The institutionalization of the area has come about through the creation of scholarly departments and national government agencies. It all led to a unique combination of methods, theories, and issues being currently explored in the Brazilian branch of IR scholarship.
'The Impact of Domestic Politics on Brazil’s Foreign Policy on Human Rights'
Shifting Power and Human Rights Diplomacy: Brazil, eds Thijs Van Lindert and Lars Van Troost, Amnesty International, Amsterdam , 2014
Domestic politics in Brazil is still very disconnected from the country’s foreign policy and international stance on human rights issues. That indifference creates a twofold problem, both for Brazil’s ambition to be a major world power, and for a world that needs a country with Brazil’s heft and legitimacy with the nations and institutions of both the Global North and South
The Impact of the United Nations Human Rights Treaties on the Domestic Level in Brazil
Brill | Nijhoff eBooks, 2024
14 Conselho Nacional Dos Direitos Humanos, Nota pública em repúdio ao desrespeito à autonomia e independência do cndh, 2019 <https:// www .gov .br /mdh /pt-br /ace sso-a-inf orma cao /parti cipa cao-soc ial /conse lho-nacio nal-de-direi tos-huma nos-cndh /2019 .08 .16No taPb lica emRe pdio aoDe cret on9 .9262 019 .pdf> accessed
Brazilian Foreign Policy and Human Rights: Change and Continuity under Dilma
This article evaluates the degree of policy change and continuity at the intersection of human rights and foreign policy in the early period of the Dilma Rousseff administration in Brazil. The smooth character of succession of power in Brazil that Dilma’s election represented suggests significant policy continuity with her immediate predecessor Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. In the area of human rights, however, there have been some early indications of policy shifts. Four particularly salient dimensions of both change and continuity in the areas of human rights and foreign policy are examined: (i) Brazil’s role as an advocate for global governance reforms; (ii) its efforts to foster South-South relations; (iii) the character of Brazil’s power projection; and (iv) its regional leadership role. The article also evaluates the emergence of Brazil as a pivotal player in global governance and assesses the implications for the engagement with international human rights by Brazilian foreign policy. Brazil will have to manage increasing expectations that the country should play a more active and forceful role in shaping the development of the international human rights regime.