Brazil delays incorporation of international treaties, research says

The provisions of international treaties signed by Brazil take up to five years and seven months to be incorporated into Brazilian law and there is no uniformity in the information related to them, says a study on the impact of such treaties in the country’s legal system, released on Wednesday (Apr. 23) by the Ministry of Justice.

Conducted in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos, the survey analyzed 168 international treaties signed by Brazil.

Despite showing that the country, by signing these treaties, has made significant progress in the protection of its citizens’ fundamental rights, the study also reveals that the provisions are not applied as they should be in civil, criminal and labor law. “It was found that the superior courts in Brazil do not effectively apply the international normative terms ratified by the country, often because of not being aware of them,” the research indicates.

“As an exercise of sovereignty, we do have to seek the concrete application [of the treaties] in the Judiciary, Executive and Legislative powers of Brazil,” argued vice-president of the Interamerican Court of Human Rights, the Brazilian Judge Roberto de Figueiredo Caldas. As for minister Sidnei Beneti, from the Superior Court of Justice, he stressed how important it is to fully incorporate the provisions connected with international treaties into the affidavits of the process.

“The application [of the norms in the treaties], in our view as judges, must be enforced by means of the affidavits. Otherwise these issues won’t be subjected to analysis. Turning it into a habit will make their application more concrete,” Beneti remarked.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira