BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS / Šturma, Mozetic (eds)

race, labour, religious creed and political views; it also established constitutional punishment against prejudice. Regarding infra-constitutional laws, the Press Law came into effect in 1967 and remained so until 2009. It established intolerance against advertisement with race or social status biased content and established racism as a crime in Brazil. 35 In 1969, the “International Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination” came into effect in Brazil, then “positive discrimination” 36 had legal provision. From that historical moment on, the state was obliged to create special and temporary measures to ensure specific race and ethnic groups could equally enjoy their human and fundamental rights. There was only formal equality in Brazil until its sixth constitution. There was no material or real legal essence to equality and no initiatives regarding affirmative action measures. Nonetheless, in 1988 the current constitution started a new and important moment that, on the one hand, brought the Rule of Law State and, on the other hand, a series of rules containing immediate and programmatic objectives to bring full equality to society. The contemporary constitutional rules consist of a complex system, imposing obligations to the state and the society, aiming at promoting equally orientated policies, 37 without discriminatory actions related to origin, race, gender, skin colour, age and any other forms of discrimination. The major advance in this constitution is the fact it has gone over the formal equality dogma of simply prohibiting discrimination, and imposed the state and the society an active role in finding solutions to eradicate inequalities and promote the general welfare. 38 The constitution aims not only at banishing discrimination, it goes beyond, setting a new affirmative ideal, with objectives Brazil must achieve to build a fraternal, pluralist and unbiased society. distinction of gender, race, occupation, religious creed and political views. Prejudice shall be punished by the law. BRASIL. Constituição Federal de 1967 . Available at: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/ constituicao/constituicao67.htm. 35 Article 1. Paragraph 1. It shall not be tolerated propaganda involving war, violent acts to subvert the social and the political order, or of discrimination against race or social class. Article 13. It is a felony to explore or use communication tools to the following articles. Article 14: To do propaganda of war or processes to subvert the political ans social order or of discrimination against race or social class. BRASIL. Constituição Federal de 1967 . Available at: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/constituicao67.htm. 36 BRASIL. Decreto 65.810, de 8 de dezembro de 1969 . Artigo I, parágrafo 4. Available at:: http://legis. senado.gov.br/legislacao/ListaTextoIntegral.action?id=94836. 37 SARLET, I. W. Affirmative Action and The Fight Against Inequalities in Brazil: The case of race and equal access to higher education. DUPPER, Ockert; KAMALA, Sankaran (ed). Affirmative Action: A View from the Global South. CIDADE: Sun Press, 2014, p. 202. 38 This is how the current Constitution regulates full equality among people through affirmative action measures: Article 3. The fundamental objectives of the Federative Republic of Brazil are: I – to build a free, just and solidary society; […] ; III – to eradicate poverty and substandard living conditions and to reduce social and regional inequalities; IV – to promote the well-being of all, without prejudice as to origin, race, sex, color, age and any other forms of discrimination. BRASIL. Constituição Federal de 1988 . Available at: http:// www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/constituicaocompilado.htm. (English version at http://www.stf. jus.br/repositorio/cms/portalStfInternacional/portalStfSobreCorte_en_us/anexo/Constitution_2013.pdf).

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