Brazil

Abstract

At the invitation of the Government of Brazil, we (Jean Ziegler, Sally-Anne Way and Christophe Golay) conducted a country mission to Brazil from 1 to 18 March 2002.¹ We were honoured to be received by the President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Celso Lafer, the Ministers of Finance, Education, and of Development, and senior members of the Ministries of Health, Agrarian Reform and the Secretaries of State for Social Assistance and for Justice. We were also honoured to be received by the Presidents of the two chambers of the National Congress, members of the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, and Dr. Ruth Cardoso of Comunidade Solidaria. At the state level, we were received by authorities including the governor of Rio de Janeiro, the mayor of Sao Paulo and the governor of Pernambuco. We met with NGOs and social movements, some of whom had arranged regional non-governmental organization meetings and field visits during the mission. In particular, we met with MST (Landless Workers Movement), Brazilian Forum on Food and Nutritional Security, MNDH (Movimento Nacional para Direitos Humanos), GAJOP (Center for Judicial Counsel for Grassroots Organizations), CPT (Pastoral Land Commission), FIAN, Rede Social, FASE (Federation of Organizations for Social and Educational Assistance), IBASE (Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic Analysis) and CESE (Ecumenical Coordination of Service). We also met with the Ordem dos Avogados and the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office.