Brazil accuses UN human rights chief of meddling in state affairs

Brazil on Wednesday (local time) criticised the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet for her remarks on alleged police violence and erosion of democracy in the South American country.

In a statement, President Jair Bolsonaro attacked Bachelet for her "disproportionate and unjustified" attention into Brazil's internal matters, noting that her office should be concerned with "more urgent matters".

In an interview in Geneva, earlier in the day, Bachelet had criticised alleged police violence in Brazil, saying almost 1,300 people were killed in the first half of this year in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Brazil has been experiencing "a reduction in the civic and democratic spaces" over the past months, with attacks against human right defenders, the UN High Commissioner had stressed.

Official discourse has been "legitimising executions" in the country, Bachelet had said.

In response, Bolsonaro criticised Bachelet, saying she is interfering with Brazil's matters and "defending criminals' and vagabonds' rights" by attacking "valorous" policemen in the country.