Human Rights in the Lions Den: Law, Politics, Policy, and Witness Protection in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Copyright © by the author(s) 2016. This article is a case study in which we want to put to the test the very notion that human rights can be improved by government policy. To achieve this goal we will examine the problematic relationship between human rights and public policy that emerged in the implementation of the Witness and Victims Protection Programme (PROVITA) in Rio de Janeiro between 2010 and 2011. We argue that only when we take a critical perspective of human rights discourse and use it to turn government institutions against themselves, can we ever make any serious advance in protecting human rights. We will put this theory to the test by analysing one case: the case of 'Daniel', which tested witness protection policies in Rio de Janeiro to its limits. Such limits are usually borderline places between statutes, administrative law, public policies, police institutions, NGOs and political parties. In the Brazilian context, they also revolve around a subtle and dangerous relationship between organised crime and government security forces. Emergency situations, as the study will illustrate, may go beyond political agreements, shortening negotiations, crossing borders between the legal and the illegal, and expanding policy through an almost dialectic tension. There is very limited information about this kind of policy (witness protection), and this justifies the need for research and the analysis of case-related evidence.