BRAZIL | DPU delivers international documents to the COP30 presidency

In a symbolic moment held in the Blue Zone at COP30, the Federal Public Defenders' Office (DPU), represented by Federal Public Defender-General Leonardo Magalhães, officially delivered two international documents to the Presidency of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), represented by Alice Amorim, Program Director of the COP30 Presidency, on behalf of Ambassador André Lago, President of the Conference.

The documents delivered – the DPU Declaration on the Need for a Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Law in Brazil and the RINDHCA-DPU Declaration of Principles on Human Rights and Climate Action – synthesize a joint effort of international and regional cooperation aimed at strengthening the integration between human rights and climate policies.

The ceremony was attended by important international authorities. Among them were the regional representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Jan Jarab; the secretary-general of the Network of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the American Continent (RINDHCA), Pedro Callisaya Aro, the COP30 special envoy for Human Rights and Just Transition, Denise Dora, the defensor del pueblo [public defender] of Paraguay, Rafael Macke, and the head of the Environmental, Climate Change and Human Mobility Advisory Office (AMA) of the DPU, federal public defender Giorgi Augustus Sales.

About the documents

The first Declaration proposes the creation of a robust legal framework against discrimination in Brazil, in accordance with international human rights standards, and recognizes the intersection between structural inequalities and climate impacts. The text is the result of more than two years of joint work with the UN High Commissioner in Geneva, the Equal Rights Trust, and other partner organizations.

The second Declaration, drafted in partnership with RINDHCA (the Network of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the American Continent), highlights the essential role of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in formulating and implementing fair climate policies based on the principles of equality, participation, transparency, and non-discrimination. The document argues that NHRIs should be fully integrated into the mechanisms for monitoring and implementing the global climate agenda, especially within the scope of COP30.

“There will be no just transition or true sustainability if human rights are not the starting point and the focus of climate decisions,” said the secretary-general of RINDHCA at the time.

“The collaboration of National Human Rights Institutions is essential to tackle the structural intersections that aggravate the environmental crisis,” said Rafael Macke, defensor del pueblo of Paraguay.

“This ceremony represents a very important moment for the Federal Public Defenders' Office. We are delivering two documents that summarize a collective effort of international and regional cooperation, aimed at strengthening the integration between Human Rights, the fight against discrimination, and climate action”, concluded the federal public defender-general.

The initiative was welcomed by the COP30 Presidency, which reaffirmed the importance of a climate transition that goes hand in hand with the promotion of human dignity, non-discrimination, and social justice.

Source: The Federal Public Defenders' Office, Brazil