She hails from one of the most lawless countries in the world where human rights abuses and police violence are commonplace.
So it is no wonder that Basildon council found it a little galling when Racquel Rolnik, a Brazilian professor, criticised its decision to evict hundreds of gipsies from an illegal camp.
Prof Rolnik, the UN's special rapporteur on housing, has written to the Government insisting that the eviction be delayed until alternative housing is found.
Basildon council served an eviction notice to more than 400 travellers living on 51 unauthorised pitches at Dale Farm, Essex. It is the biggest eviction of travellers in Britain and the 28–day countdown began on Thursday.
But Prof Rolnik claimed it would breach their human rights. She said in a statement that evictions could "constitute a grave breach of human rights if not carried out with full respect for international standards".
"We urge the UK authorities to halt the evictions process and to pursue negotiations with the residents until an acceptable agreement for relocation is reached in full conformity with international human rights obligations," she said.
"It is now of utmost importance that the rights of the residents to fair compensation for their lost homes and property and the provision of adequate alternative housing are fully respected."
Prof Rolnik, a professor at the faculty of architecture and urbanism of the University of Sao Paulo, has been a UN special rapporteur on adequate housing since 2008. She is an independent unpaid expert appointed by the Human Rights Council and it is believed she was asked to intervene by campaign groups.
Human rights is a pressing issue in her home country. Police killed 1,195 people in 2007 in the state of Rio de Janeiro alone, while Sao Paulo state officers killed 340 civilians in nine months in the same year. Another 1,940 vanished. Child labour is commonplace and torture has been widely reported in detention centres and prisons.
Although the Government is not obliged to act on her findings, her comments will add weight to calls for the eviction to be put on hold.
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said British courts had found that the developments at Dale Farm are in breach of planning law and the council was "within its rights" to evict the travellers.
Tony Ball, the leader of Basildon council, accused charities of giving the travellers false hope by pursuing challenges. "It has made them believe a last–minute legal ruling could stop the site clearance. As a result, over the years few people on this site have accepted our offers of help."
Travellers began to set up pitches illegally on the former scrap–yard in 2001 and numbers are believed to have reached 400. The council said that more than half of the 100 pitches do not have planning permission and issued 51 sites with eviction notices in July. The notice requires them to vacate the land or the council will dismantle the camp.
Policing the clearance of the site is expected to cost up to £9.5million.
Richard Sheridan, president of the Gypsy Council, said it was unlikely residents would leave before the deadline. "You have to ask if it is value for money for taxpayers to pay millions for the police operation and millions more when these people are left homeless," he said.
"They will not leave voluntarily so I suppose the police will have to go in and I don't suppose the residents will welcome them with open arms."
Comment: In my view, it is immaterial where Racquel Rolnik comes from in the world and the problems which beset that part of the world. What is material is that she is a professor and the UN's special rapporteur on housing, and the UK should pay close attention to what she has to say. Quite apart from the economic downturn and the waste of £9.5million for the police operation, I suspect that the cost will be far greater if the case is taken to the European Court of Human Rights and the UK loses.
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