Brazil - July 2024

Brazil's President Lula has reinstated the Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances, dismantled during Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. Bolsonaro had declared the Commission's work as complete, dismissing the ongoing demands of victims' families. This move, fulfilling a campaign promise, renews the Commission's mission to investigate and identify victims of the military dictatorship (1964-85).  The Commission will also consider recognizing new groups, such as rural workers and Indigenous people, who have not yet been individually acknowledged as victims of state violence. Human rights groups had urged Lula to restore the Commission, which was originally established in 1995 to locate people who were forcefully disappeared during the last dictatorship and compensate their families. The decision has been praised as crucial for memory, truth, and justice efforts.

Sources: Vermelho, Bonde, Jornal de Brasilia, Pagina 12