Brazil must be careful to respect human rights as it moves to contain violence in Rio de Janeiro ahead of the 2014 soccer World Cup and 2016 Olympics, the top UN rights official said on Friday.
Violence broke out in Rio de Janeiro after suspected drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter in October, spreading fear and gloom in a city that only weeks before had celebrated winning its bid to host the Olympic Games.
Human rights groups regularly accuse the city's police of excessive use of force during slum raids. Authorities say they face a difficult challenge against the entrenched gangs.
UN Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Brazilian authorities must not forfeit human rights as they are "putting on this great show for the international cameras."
"What I have done in my visit in Rio is to remind the government that whatever strategy they adopt under the name of public security ... you cannot abandon the consideration of human rights," she told reporters in Brasilia.
Investment in infrastructure prior to the events should also benefit the poor, for example through financing cultural, sports and transport facilities, Pillay said.
"It can be spent on public transport systems that will help the inhabitants of favelas travel to places of employment long after the World Cup and Olympics are over," Pillay added.
She also said Brazil was the only South American nation that had not confronted abuses committed under military rule. While other countries put former military rulers on trial for torture and killings, Brazil has done little to punish such crimes, she said.
Pillay said she had encouraged President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to set up a truth and reconciliation commission to look into torture, killings and other human rights violations during Brazil''s 1964-85 military dictatorship.
"President Lula was very open to the suggestion," she said.
