Government will make changes to controversial human rights document

The head of the Human Rights Secretariat, minister Paulo Vannuchi, has confirmed that changes will be made to the Third National Human Rights Plan (PNDH-3) which caused a storm of controversy when it was released in December. Criticism rained down on it from the Catholic Church, the farm sector, the media and the military.

Vannuchi reports that changes will be made in a new document that will be released in May. There will be changes in the chapters dealing with abortion, religious symbols in public areas and land conflict mediation. The minister also revealed that discussions were underway with media representatives (the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television (Abert), the National Association of Magazine Editors (Aner) and the National Association of Newspapers (ANJ)) to iron out any problems with the language regarding freedom of the press.

In a declaration he made at a public hearing in the Senate, Vannuchi said that next week a draft bill will be completed for the creation of a Truth Commission that will investigate the period between 1964 and 1985 when Brazil was run by generals. But he added that there was no intention of doing so for revenge (“espirito de revanchismo”) and affirmed that the Amnesty Law of 1979 would not be changed.