Position Paper

Committee: United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

Topic: Investigating Human Rights Abuses in Military and Hybrid Regimes: Safeguarding Civil
Liberties and International Justice
Country: Federative Republic of Brazil

A. Authoritarianism is detrimental to human rights. Violations of human rights in regions which

are governed by military or hybrid regimes are common. Especially in authoritarian rule, due to
the centralization of power, the ruler often has a tight clamp on virtually all independent media.
In a region like this, critics of the government are silenced through state security agents in an act
which discourages all civilians to speak against the government. The government, however, most
of the time does not face accountability for its abuses of fundamental human rights such as
freedom of media and expression. Using strategies such as forced disappearances, extrajudicial
killings and arbitrary executions, these governments openly violate article 3 of the united nations
declaration of human rights.

B. The Federative Republic of Brazil has been an advocate of human rights and international
justice on the global stage. Brazil has taken several measures in the past to promote human
rights, prevent violations of human rights and protect human right defenders. These include
ratifying and implementing the American Convention on Human Rights, creating commissions
to hold human right offenders accountable and making nationwide programs like the PPDDH to
keep human right defenders and activists secure. Moreover, Brazil, on the international stage,
supported peace negotiations and dialogue in countries with ongoing human right abuses.

C. The federative republic of brazil believes that the next logical step is to use diplomatic efforts
to address the ongoing political and humanitarian crisis in countries around the world to promote
peace and stability. Brazil further proposes:
● Countries who have not ratified the rome statute of the international criminal court do so
in order to end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of international
concern, and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes.
● Pressurizing authoritarian governments who are known to commit human rights abuses
through sanctions
● Creating internationally recognised ‘truth commissions’ under the UNHRC to hold
perpetrators of serious human right violations accountable
● Promote NGOs that protect human rights along with protecting these NGOs and
individual human right activists through programs run by the state