
Brazil: Toxic speech must not become government policy
.
Brazil: Toxic speech must not become government policy
Reacting to the election of Jair Bolsonaro and Hamilton Mourão as president and vice president of Brazil, Amnesty International said today:
“The president-elect has campaigned with an openly anti-human-rights agenda and frequently made discriminatory statements about different groups of society. His election as Brazil´s president could pose a huge risk to Indigenous Peoples and quilombolas, traditional rural communities, LGBTI people, black youth, women, activists and civil society organizations, if his rhetoric is transformed in public policy” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.
Bolsonaro’s campaign promises include loosening gun control laws and granting prior authorization for law enforcement officials to kill. These proposals, if adopted, would worse the already dire context of lethal violence in Brazil, where there are 63,000 homicides each year, more than 70% of them from firearms, and police commit approximately 5,000 homicides a year, many of which are indeed extrajudicial executions.
Moreover, he has threatened Indigenous Peoples’ territories, to change land demarcation processes and authorize major natural resource exploitation projects. Likewise, he has also talked about relaxing environmental regulations and criticized Brazil’s environmental protection agencies, thus endangering the right of all people to a healthy environment.
With the electoral process now over, we all face the challenge of protecting human rights for everyone in Brazil. Amnesty International will stand alongside social movements, NGOs, activists and all those who defend human rights to ensure that Brazil’s future brings more rights and less repression
