Brazilian Supreme Court: appointing the next minister

September 27, 2011

 

Terra de Direitos, Ação Educativa, Conectas, Sociedade Paraense de Direitos Humanos, Dignitatis and Geledés Instituto da Mulher Negra, organizations that pursue an agenda for the Democratization of Justice, submitted to the Ministry of Justice on Tuesday, September 27, a Letter to the President of Brazil (in Portuguese) endorsed by 45 organizations from across the country calling for greater transparency and requesting that commitment to human rights and gender considerations be the criteria for appointing new justices to the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF).

 

The Letter to the President is one more initiative to be added to the growing current of social mobilization in the field of justice and human rights in Brazil. In 2010, similar mobilizations also occurred when a seat on the STF became vacant following the retirement of Justice Eros Grau.
 

The Letter calls for the fundamental criteria for the presidential appointment to be a commitment to human rights, together with gender aspect, taking into consideration that the seat on the court is currently held by Justice Ellen Gracie, in addition to the intention to include the greatest diversity possible on the highest court in the Brazilian justice system.

 

In the past, the appointment of the position of STF justice was made without any debate or publicity surrounding the nominations, placing an even greater distance between the Judiciary and Brazilian society.

 

In this sense, the letter requests that a procedure regulating the presidential appointment be decreed, based on the criteria of commitment to human rights and incorporating mechanisms of transparency and social participation into this important process of Judicial Policy in Brazil.

 

The organizations are also calling for a hearing with the Justice Minister, José Eduardo Cardozo, to discuss this issue of Supreme Court appointments, as well as the agenda for the Democratization of Justice.

 

Click here to read the letter in Portuguese in full.