(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today, Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-08) joined Reps. Susan Wild (PA-07) and Ro Khanna (CA-17) and 30 Members of Congress in urging Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to defend human rights in Brazil in light of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s attacks on the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and other minority communities, women, labor activists, and political dissidents.
“We are writing to urge you to publicly emphasize the importance of defending the human rights of the people of Brazil. Since the election of far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro as president, we have been particularly alarmed by the threat Bolsonaro’s agenda poses to the LGBTQ+ community and other minority communities, women, labor activists, and political dissidents in Brazil,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter to Pompeo. “As our nation’s top diplomat, it is incumbent upon you to represent our nation’s highest values by advocating for the fundamental rights and dignity of all people in Brazil.”
“We must stand with the Brazilian people – especially with so many of Brazil’s dissidents, labor activists, and other fighters for justice and equality risking their safety to speak out against the resurgent forces of authoritarianism, xenophobia, and division. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I will always urge our leaders to advocate on behalf of the fundamental human rights of all people across the global community,” Wild said.
“Sec. Pompeo must publicly highlight the importance of defending human rights in Brazil. I implore him to make it clear to the government of Brazil that the U.S. finds Bolsonaro’s threats to the LGBTQ+ community, women, labor activists, and political dissidents in Brazil unacceptable,” said Khanna, who wrote to Pompeo to raise concerns with then-candidate Bolsonaro in 2018.
In the letter, the lawmakers cite several instances of the Brazilian government’s attempts to undermine the rights of LGBTQ+ and other minority communities, including by signing executive decrees to strip the protected status of LGBTQ+ rights, undermining land protections for indigenous communities and descendants of slaves, removing references to feminism, violence against women, and LGBTQ+ communities from public school textbooks, and undermining unions and workers by eliminating the Ministry of Labor.
The lawmakers also noted their concern for the Trump Administration’s comments praising President Bolsonaro. They wrote, “we are deeply disappointed that—far from expressing the United States’ concern for defending human rights in Brazil—the Administration has made public statements praising Bolsonaro.”
The letter is endorsed by several labor unions, including AFL-CIO, United Steel Workers (USW), United Auto Workers (UAW), and United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) – which are concerned with attacks on workers’ rights and efforts to undermine the labor movement in Brazil.
Brian Finnegan, AFL-CIO Global Worker Rights Coordinator said, “As the current Brazilian government sows hatred and fear through its speech and actions, the United States should clearly support Brazil's vibrant social movements in their struggle for human rights in Brazil and defend their role in the country's democracy in a period of increasing inequality and ignorant hatred of migrants, workers, and leaders and visionaries committed to social justice in so many countries."
A signed copy of the letter is available here.
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