IACHR concerned by Bolsonaro's speech

Rio de Janeiro.- The President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Margarette May Macaulay, is worried about the "hate speech" of the President-elect of Brazil, the ultra- right Jair Bolsonaro, and his ideas to fight the rate of violence in the country.

Macaulay called for respect for human rights in the Bolsonaro government. At the end of his visit to South America, Macaulay described Bolsonaro's security declarations as "atrocities" and acknowledged the commission's concern for the future of Brazil's most vulnerable communities in Brazil. from 1 January, date on which the ex-captain of the army take power.

The future government of Brazil must "respect the human rights of all Brazilians, those of each of them," said Macaulay at a press conference at which the IACHR finalized the visit to Brazil, in which she assessed the country's situation. in the field of human rights.

Although no member of the Commission referred to Bolsonaro, the IACHR was preoccupied by the issues raised by the far right since its campaign, namely the empowerment of the armed forces, the limitation of workers' rights and the possibility of the legal age of majority

Bolsonaro proposes to legally protect the police in the exercise of its activity. "If one of us, civilian or soldier, is attacked (…) and fires 20 times at the attacker, he should be decorated and not go to court," he said. in August in Rio de Janeiro.

"We think it's an atrocity that anyone, especially a member of the highest power in the country, can say something like this, and we hope it's only a statement." Macaulay warned.

Hard speeches against crime, like the one Bolsonaro defended throughout his campaign, make "the ends justify the means" and that it increases the risk of extrajudicial killings, according to the members of the Commission.

"It can not be serious, that's how we see it, it's so extreme that we can not allow that to happen," said the IACHR President.

"We hope that investigations and judges play their part in transforming this reality, and we are concerned by these statements that the international human rights community calls a clear hate speech," Macaulay added.