'The UN is not interested in the outcome of the election, but in the right to participate'

247 - The vice-president of the UN Human Rights Committee, Sarah Cleveland, reaffirmed on Tuesday, the 21st, that Brazil is obligated to comply with the body's decision to guarantee the participation of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the presidential elections. 

"This decision is based directly on the international legal obligations that Brazil assumed when it became a signatory to the Pact. The Committee has no interest whatsoever in the outcome of the elections, but only in the right of all to participate," Cleveland told the legal news portal Jota.

Professor Cleveland, a professor of Human and Constitutional Rights at Columbia University in New York, also said that failure to comply with the ruling would mean that Brazil has violated its international legal obligations under the Optional Protocol. "Lula could seek an additional declaration from the Committee that Brazil has failed to comply with its legal obligations. Depending on Brazil's domestic laws, he could also seek remedies through Brazilian courts," she said. 

The legal expert emphasized that the Committee's action is limited and was taken to ensure that Lula's rights are not irreparably harmed while his claim is pending before the Committee. "Lula's conviction is not final, and he is challenging his judicial process as fundamentally unjust before domestic courts and the Human Rights Committee. This was the basis of the Committee's action," she stated. 

Read the full interview on the website. Jot.