Brasília, February 16, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - On Thursday (12), commenting the report submitted Wednesday (11) night by the UN rapporteur on Summary, Extra-judicial, and Arbitrary Executions, Asma Jahandir, the Minister of the Secretariat for Human Rights, Nilmário Miranda, said that "the rapporteur's visit was not to inspect or direct, but rather to verify whether or not we are complying with the international accords signed by Brazil."

The report will be presented to the International Commission on Human Rights in Geneva at the end of March. Minister Miranda will attend the meeting to present the Brazilian point of view. He recalled, however, that his function will not be to dispute what was said by the rapporteur. "We shall not state what the Brazilian State plans to do, but rather the projects that are already being implemented," the Minister explained.

In her report, Jahandir affirms that "all institutions, commissions, and structures, new and old, lack the capacity and methods to operate effectively." For Minister Miranda, this represents "an endorsement of our national judicial system, since it recognizes that the institutions already exist and that they just need to be strengthened."

The UN rapporteur also recommends the recycling and training of police officers. According to the Minister, this is one of the priorities of the National Secretariat of Public Safety (Senasp). "There are budget resources and qualified people for this, agreements with universities, ngo's, and international organizations for the training and recycling of police forces," Miranda said.

Another item mentioned by the rapporteur is that witnesses are reluctant to appear in court. Miranda explains that the National Witness Protection Program (Provita) has not lost a single witness in the past five years, and all of the witnesses who were assassinated during trials were not part of the program. (DAS)