| Year | Ratified by Brazil | Title | Subject |
| 1945 | 1945 | United Nations Letter | It recognizes as legitimate the international concern with human rights. It establishes that States Parties should promote the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. |
| 1946 | 1952 | Agreement Relating to the Granting of a Travel Certificate for Refugees under the Jurisdiction of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees | The granting of a travel document to refugees under the jurisdiction of the Intergovernmental Committee, provided, however, that those refugees are stateless or that they do not enjoy the protection of any Government and that they regularly reside in the territory of the State Party. This document shall be granted to refugees who request it for travel purposes outside the country of their residence. |
| 1948 | 1948* | American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man | It establishes the rights and duties of man. |
| 1948 | 1948* | Universal Declaration of Human Rights | It enumerates the set of civil, political, economic and social rights considered fundamental, universal and indivisible. |
| 1950 | - | UNHCR Statute | It establishes functions, organization, financing, etc. |
| 1951 | 1960 | 1951 Convention | It defines the refugee and which people can not be qualified as such; it establishes the rights of individuals to whom the right of asylum is granted and the responsibilities of the granting nations. It determines the duties of the refugee to the country in which he is, as well as the obligation to respect the laws and regulations. It defines the application of the provisions by States Parties to refugees without discrimination as to race, religion or country of origin. |
| 1953 | 1966 | Convention on Slavery, signed at Geneva on 25 September 1926 and amended by the Protocol open for signature or for acceptance at United Nations Headquarters | It establishes to States Parties a commitment to prevent and repress the slave trade and to promote the complete abolition of slavery in all its forms, progressively and as soon as possible. |
| 1956 | 1966 | Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery | It determines that each State Party should take all legislative and other measures that are feasible and necessary to progressively complete the abolition or abandonment of the institutions and practices where they still exist, whether or not they fall within the definition of Slavery contained in the first article of the Slavery Convention signed at Geneva on September 25, 1926. |
| 1965 | 1968 | International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination | It was made with the objective of becoming an international instrument in the fight against racial discrimination with the adoption of measures necessary to eliminate it. |
| 1966 | 1992 | International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights | It recognizes a catalog of civil and political rights longer than that of the Universal Declaration itself. It establishes the duty of States Parties to ensure such rights to all individuals under their jurisdiction by taking the necessary measures to this end. It obliges States to protect individuals against the violation of rights by private entities. It requires States to establish a legal system capable of responding effectively to violations of civil and political rights. It presents self-application and establishes rights addressed to individuals. |
| 1966 | 1992 | International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights | It expands the list of social, economic, and cultural rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration. They are rights conditioned to the performance of the State, which must adopt economic and technical measures, alone and through international assistance and cooperation, to the maximum of available resources, to achieve the full realization of the rights envisaged. It presents progressive realization (they are programmatic) and establishes duties directed to the States. |
| 1967 | 1972 | Protocol of 1967 | It commits States Parties to cooperate with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or any other United Nations institution succeeding it in the performance of their duties and, in particular, to facilitate its efforts to observe the provisions of the Protocol. |
| 1969 | 1992 | American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San José, Costa Rica) | It aims to consolidate the inter-American system of personal liberty and social justice based on universal human rights. In its first article, it states that “The States Parties to this Convention undertake to respect the rights and freedoms recognized herein and to ensure to all persons subject to their jurisdiction the free and full exercise of those rights and freedoms, without any discrimination for reasons of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic status, birth, or any other social condition”. Only the member states of the Organization of American States have the right to accede to the Convention. It establishes the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights. |
| 1979 | 1984 | Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women | It urges the participating countries to commit to combating all forms of discrimination against women. |
| 1984 | 1984* | Cartagena Declaration | It includes elements linking the three streams of international protection (humanitarian law, human rights and refugee rights) into legislation, interpretation and operation. It launched the term “massive violation of human rights” as an element of the broader definition of refugee. |
| 1988 | 1996 | Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Protocol of San Salvador) | The States Parties undertake to adopt the necessary measures, both domestically and through cooperation, especially economic and technical, to the maximum of available resources and taking into account their degree of development, in order to progressively and in accordance with domestic law accomplish the full effectiveness of the rights recognized in the Protocol. |
| 1989 | 1990 | Convention on the Rights of the Child | International treaty on protection of human rights with the highest number of ratifications. It welcomes the conception of integral development of the child, recognizing it as a true subject of law, demanding special protection and absolute priority. It covers all areas traditionally defined in the field of human rights: civil, political, economic, social and cultural. It commits the State Party to protect the child from all forms of discrimination and to provide it appropriate assistance. |
| 1989 | 1994 | Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children | It aims to ensure the prompt return of minors who are habitually resident in one of the States Parties and who have been illegally transported from any State to a State Party or who, having been transported legally, have been illegally detained. It is also the subject of this Convention to respect the exercise of rights of access, custody or guardianship by the holders of such rights. |
| 1990 | 1996 | Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty | It prohibits States Parties from applying in their territory the death penalty to any person within their jurisdiction. |
| 1994 | 1997 | Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors | It obliges the States Parties to: ensure the protection of the minor, taking into account their superior interests; to establish a system of legal cooperation that will ensure the prevention and punishment of international trafficking in minors, as well as the adoption of legal and administrative provisions for such; and to ensure the prompt restitution of the minor victim of international trafficking to the State in which he is habitually resident, in accordance with his interests. |
| 1994 | 1994* | San José Declaration on Refugees and Displaced Persons | Adopted as part of the 10th anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration. Updates, reiterates and broadens the scope of the Cartagena Declaration by emphasizing the importance of the human rights of refugees and internally displaced persons in Latin America and the Caribbean, including forced migratory movements caused by causes other than those contained in the Declaration of Cartagena. Cartagena. The new Declaration affirms that full respect for economic, social and cultural rights forms the basis of sustainable human development, peace building and the consolidation of democracy on the continent. The Declaration of San José also innovates in considering the importance of the gender approach, the rights of indigenous people and children, as well as those who emigrate for economic reasons, reminding us that they are, in the first place, “human rights holders who must be respected at all times, circumstances and place.” |
| 1994 | 1995 | Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women, “Convention of Belém do Pará” | It defines as violence against women “any act or conduct, based on gender, which causes death or physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, whether in the public or the private sphere.” It establishes the rights to be respected and guaranteed, and the duties of participating States, as well as defining inter-American mechanisms of protection. |
| 1999 | 2002 | Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women | It determines the performance and defines the competencies of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in receiving and analyzing communications received from the States Parties. |
| 1999 | 2001 | Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities | It obliges States Parties to take legislative, social, educational, labor or other measures as may be necessary to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities and to ensure their full integration into society. |
| 2000 | 2004 | Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography | It prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography by obliging the States Parties to adopt or strengthen, implement and disseminate laws, administrative measures, policies and social programs to prevent offenses and protect the rights and interests of child victims of the practices prohibited by the Protocol. |
| 2002 | 2002* | Optional Declaration to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination | It recognizes, by right and for an indefinite term, the competence of the International Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to receive and analyze complaints of human rights violations as provided in art. 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. |
| 2004 | 2004 | Mexico Declaration and Plan of Action to Strengthen the International Protection of Refugees in Latin America | It strengthens the international protection of the region by defining a set of measures aimed at finding durable and innovative solutions for refugees in Latin America. It emphasizes the importance of international cooperation and solidarity and it has five well-defined objectives: technical development, institutional strengthening, solidarity cities, solidarity frontiers, solidarity resettlement. |
| 2010 | 2010* | Brasilia Declaration on the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons in the Americas | It reinforces the provisions of the “Mexico Plan of Action”. |
Sources: ACNUR, OAS, UNESDOC/UNESCO, CAOP, Portal MJ, Cidh, MJ, OAS 57 and OAS 53.
