[12/16/2005] On Visit to São Paulo, Special UN Representative Defends MST

In an interview conducted December the 14th Special Representative of the UN’s Secretary General for the Defense of Human Rights, Hina Jilani, affirmed her defense of the MST’s lines of action. “I consider them exemplary, not only because their members act in defense of social and economic rights, but because they do so while maintaining the principle of non-violence‿, she stated.

On a visit to São Paulo, the special representative of the UN met with representatives of a number of progressive forces, including the Black Movement, Homeless Peoples’ Movement, community radio activists, defenders of children and adolescents rights, as well as activists fighting against torture and organ trafficking. Originally from Pakistan, Hina Jilani went on to stress the importance of stimulating the public’s involvement in the question of human rights. She points out that justice only exists in a country when all have equal access to it. “Without equality, justice will not function‿, she remarked.

Her final report is to be handed in to the United Nations in 2007. Hina Jilani has already visited Pernambuco, and from São Paulo she will be going to Santa Catarina. The following 20th, she will end her trip in Brasília, where she will make public her preliminary findings on human rights in Brazil.

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In Portuguese -
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http://www.mst.org.br/informativos/minforma/ultimas1424.htm