UNITED
NATIONS |
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E |
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Economic and Social
Council
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E/C.12/Q/BRA/1
5 June 2002
Original: ENGLISH
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COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL
AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Pre-sessional working group
21-24 May 2002
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC,
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration
of the initial
report of BRAZIL concerning the rights referred to in articles 1-15
of the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(E/1990/5/Add.53)
GE.02-42396 (E) 110602
I. GENERAL INFORMATION
Land and people
A document submitted to the Committee by Brazil's
civil society and Congress entitled "The Civil Society Report on
Brazil's Observance of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights" (henceforth referred to as CSR)
indicates that aside from the Indians, the State party does not
distinguish other minorities among its populations, such as the
Gypsies and the quilombos. Please confirm the
information and provide demographic details about them.
What are the current statistics on the indicators
provided in paragraph 7 of the State party's core document?
Taking into account that the State party is blessed with rich
natural resources and has a per capita GDP of about US$ 3,400,
please explain why relatively large percentages of the population
are illiterate, have no access to drinking water systems or to safe
water sources, and are not served by rainwater drainage
systems.
Please provide updated statistics on the
populations in Brazil who live below the poverty line,
disaggregated according to ethnic group, sex and age. In
addition, please provide information on whether the State party has
a national anti-poverty strategy and the success and difficulties
in implementing such strategy.
The CSR highlights the marked imbalance in the
resource distribution in Brazil where more than
64 per cent of total income is controlled by the
wealthiest 20 per cent of the population, while
20 per cent of the poorest survive on
2.5 per cent. If the report is accurate, please
discuss how the State party is addressing this serious
disparity.
How does the Government protect in practice the
right of indigenous peoples to benefit from the profits gained from
the mining concessions within their ancestral lands?
General legal framework within which human rights are
protected
Please cite specific cases within the past five
years where the provisions of the Covenant have been invoked before
the courts and where victims of violations of economic, social and
cultural rights have successfully obtained legal redress.
Please discuss the extent to which the State
party's compliance with its obligations under the Covenant is
ensured in practice on both the federal and state
levels.
Which of the State agencies mentioned in the report
(paras. 8 and 26) has the capability to take on the role of an
independent national human rights institution in keeping with the
Paris Principles?
What is the position of the State party in relation
to the draft optional protocol to the ICESCR?
Information and publicity
Please describe the extent to which human rights
education is integrated into formal education at all levels.
In addition, please indicate what training programmes are in place
for awareness raising and capacity‑building towards the
promotion and protection of human rights, in particular among
judges, the police, prison officials and other public
authorities.
II. ISSUES RELATING TO THE GENERAL PROVISIONS
OF THE COVENANT (arts. 1 to 5)
Articles 1 to 5
Please describe the policies of the State party
regarding the sustainable handling of the resources of the
Amazon. What is the impact of such policies on the
traditional populations and communities who derive their means of
livelihood from these natural resources? What measures are
being undertaken to effectively stop the increasing deforestation
and destruction of the vegetation, which has led to the diminishing
of water resources in the country, as reported in the
CSR?
Reliable information indicates that women,
Afro-Brazilians, the indigenous populations, persons with
disabilities and homosexuals suffer discrimination. The State
party's report discusses legal provisions and policies relating to
some aspects of discrimination but does not provide information on
the implementation of such provisions, including the effectiveness
or problems and difficulties encountered. In this regard,
please discuss concrete steps undertaken beyond legislation to
address the following issues:
(a) The
underrepresentation of women in positions of authority and
decision‑making;
(b) The protection of
indigenous populations from outsiders who encroach on their
lands;
(c) The discrimination
against Afro-Brazilians in employment, education, health and
access to basic services, and their underrepresentation in
positions of authority and
decision‑making;
(d) The lack of access to
birth or death registries by Gypsies who live a nomadic life, and
the absence of educational alternatives for their children;
(e) The lack of equal
opportunities and access to employment, education, health services
and other services for persons with disabilities.
- Bearing in mind that article 3 of the Covenant on equality of
men and women in the enjoyment of economic, social and
cultural rights is an obligation of immediate effect and is
not subject to progressive realization, how does the State
party intend to implement this provision so that Brazilian women in
general, and Afro-Brazilians and rural women in particular, can
fully enjoy their right to equal pay for work of equal value
without further delay?
- Please provide information on the reported persecution and
discrimination of homosexuals and the extent of the violence they
suffer in particular in the hands of police authorities.
III. ISSUES RELATING TO SPECIFIC PROVISIONS
of THE COVENANT (arts. 6 to 15)
Article 6 - The right to work
Aside from legislation, surveys and studies, what
measures has the State party taken to combat forced labour in
Brazil? What are the difficulties encountered in implementing
such measures?
Paragraph 53 of the report refers to a number of
factors, including Brazil's foreign exchange crisis in early 1999,
that have caused an increase in the unemployment rate. Please
provide detailed information about the "severe" measures undertaken
by the State party to mitigate the negative effects of this
crisis. What were the effects of these severe measures and
which sectors of the population were the most negatively
affected?
Please provide statistics, disaggregated by ethnic
group, sex and age, on unemployment rates in the past five
years.
Article 7 - The right to just and favourable conditions of
work
To what extent does the minimum wage provide a
decent standard of living for workers and their
families?
Please provide statistical information,
disaggregated by ethnic, group, sex and age, on workers who do not
receive at least the minimum wage.
Please describe the existing mechanisms of legal
redress for women who are victims of sexual harassment in the
workplace.
Article 8 - Trade union rights
The State party's report refers to initiatives
designed to modernize labour relations (paras. 96-102) on the
one hand, while the CSR claims that such initiatives have instead
contributed to fragmented work relations, and cite as an example
that there is no longer any protection from arbitrary
dismissal. Please comment on the expressions of dissenting
opinion under the heading "Work Relations" in the CSR.
When does the State party intend to fulfil its
commitment to repeal the law on the "unicidade system" for
trade unions, which is causing unrest and violence in the labour
sector? What measures are being taken by the State party to
put an end to the violence, particularly against unionized rural
workers who are constantly harassed by employers and the
police?
Reliable information states that trade union rights
in the public sector are grossly violated, as evidenced by unfair
dismissals and transfers, harassment, obstacles to organizing
unions, and refusal by authorities to recognize unions and the
right to strike. A ruling by the Supreme Court in November
1996 declared all strikes by civil servants illegal. Please
clarify these allegations and confirm whether the 1996 decision
still applies today.
Article 9 - The right to social security
Please describe in detail the main features of the
reform of the social security system referred to in paragraph 244
of the report, and please provide a time frame for its adoption and
implementation.
Article 10 - Protection of family, mothers and children
According to reliable information, the most serious
violations of women's rights in Brazil are sexual and domestic
violence, which are widespread and underreported. Please
provide detailed information on the extent of these
phenomena. What measures undertaken by the State party have
proven to be the most effective in this regard?
What is the extent of trafficking of women
and children for purposes of prostitution within and outside the
country? Please provide detailed information on sex tourism
and child prostitution, and how the State party is addressing these
problems.
Please clarify information contained in the CSR
that sterilization is a population policy of the State party and
that often, poor women are sterilized even without their knowledge
or consent.
The State party's report discusses in great detail
the serious problem of child labour and the measures it has
undertaken to address it. To what extent have measures by the
State party improved the situation? Please describe how the
State party has made good use of international assistance in this
regard.
Please provide information about the penalties
incurred by employers using child labour? How many such
employers have been penalized in 2000? What happens to the
children involved in such cases?
UNICEF reports that in Brazil, over 20 million
children and adolescents (almost 35 per cent of the
total population of children) live in poverty. About 2.9
million children under the age of 15, including over 375,000
between 5 and 9 years old, continue to work. Have these
figures been reduced through measures taken by the State
party?
Please discuss in detail the various dimensions of
the problem of street children, how the State party protects them
and how the State party intends to solve the problem.
To what factors does the State party attribute the
high level of juvenile delinquency? Please discuss how
juvenile offenders are treated in courts, the penalties imposed on
them and the manner of their detention or incarceration. In
addition, please confirm reports that homicide is the leading cause
of death for children aged 10 to 14.
Article 11 - The right to an adequate standard of living
Please provide information on the problem of the
illegal use of indigenous lands by non‑indigenous populations
and the measures taken by the Government to effectively implement
the laws that protect the indigenous populations and their
lands.
Please explain the system of demarcation of
indigenous land and why there are still large tracts of land that
have to be identified and demarcated, particularly in the
north-east and south‑east of the country.
Please discuss the problems encountered in agrarian
reform, which, according to reports, is not treated as a priority
by the Government in spite of the fact that of the 38 million rural
dwellers in Brazil, 73 per cent have an income below the
poverty line and that 51 per cent of the millions of
hungry people in Brazil live in the rural areas. What is the
State party's policy in dealing with the MST (Movimento dos
Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra)?
Please provide a comprehensive description of the
following aspects of the agrarian problem in the State party:
(a) The total area of
agricultural land in Brazil;
(b) The number of persons
who depend on agriculture for family subsistence and the average
land area at their disposal;
(c) The number of
landless peasants; and
(d) The public land
available for distribution to landless peasants.
The State party's report refers to the definition
of "precarious homes as those inhabited by illiterate children aged
11-14 and/or headed by women with a monthly income of up to the
minimum salary and which lack any waste disposal system" (para.
503). Please provide more details about the situation of
these children and women, and on the assistance provided to them by
the Government.
The CSR describes the problem of homelessness
especially in the big cities of Brazil where more than 1 million
people live on sidewalks, public squares or under viaducts.
Other information cites even higher figures of homelessness in
Brazil. In light of such varying figures, please clarify and
provide official statistics on the homeless, disaggregated by
ethnic group, age and sex. In addition, please clarify
reports that an increasing number of homeless persons become
victims of homicide.
Please explain why 7 per cent of
Brazilian children suffer from undernourishment, in spite of the
fact that the national production of grains would be sufficient to
feed one and a half times the total population of Brazil, as shown
by studies conducted by the Interdisciplinary Inequality Study
Nucleus at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University (quoted in the
CSR).
Please provide information on measures taken and
progress achieved to reduce the infant mortality caused by
malnutrition and undernourishment.
Article 12 - The right to physical and mental health
What incentives are offered for mothers to
breastfeed their infants so as to ensure the best possible
nutrition?
What forms of contraception are available, in
particular for women? Please explain the extent to which
abortion is a problem and how women are protected from unscrupulous
practitioners of clandestine abortions.
What measures are being taken to address the
problem of HIV/AIDS among children and adults?
The Chamber of Deputies Human Rights Commission
reported that mental hospitals and asylums are severely overcrowded
and that many patients suffer unclean facilities and substandard
living conditions. What is the State party's response to this
report?
According to a study done by the Tropical Medicine
Institute of Manaus, the average life expectancy of the Brazilian
Indians is 42.6 years, while that of non-Indian Brazilians is 64
years for men and 72 years for women. To what factors does
the State party attribute this disparity and what is the State
party doing to alleviate the poor health of the Brazilian
Indians?
Reliable information describes the problem of
overcrowding and violence in prisons, as well as the poor
health conditions of prison inmates. The Ministry of Justice
estimates that 10‑20 per cent of the national
prison population is HIV-positive, that scabies and tuberculosis
are widespread in prisons, and that denial of first aid and other
medical care sometimes is used as a form of punishment.
Please clarify the accuracy of these reports and provide
information on the actual situation.
Articles 13 and 14 - The right to education
Please provide disaggregated statistics on the
levels of education attained by the various populations in
Brazil.
Please explain in more specific terms how the State
party intends to achieve its goal of eradicating illiteracy over
the next 10 years. In particular, how will the State party
address the 32 per cent illiteracy rate among
Afro-Brazilians? Please describe the role of
international assistance and cooperation in this regard.
Please provide detailed information on teacher
training in the various parts of the country, the percentage of
teachers coming from indigenous Afro-Brazilian and minority
communities and teaching conditions, including compensation and
other benefits, as compared to those of other public
employees.
What programmes are in place to ensure that all
children can benefit from the State party's free and compulsory
education until the age of 14, in all parts of the
country?
Article 15 - The right to take part in cultural life, enjoy the
benefits of scientific
progress and the protection of intellectual property
Please describe how sports and games are encouraged
as an expression of Brazilian culture, and as an essential factor
in the holistic development of the person.
What programmes exist to provide access and
opportunities for older persons and persons with disabilities to
enjoy and participate in cultural activities?
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