Challenges for defenders

True state of human rights - criminalisation, silencing and violence

XV Coloquio DH. Conectas.Memorial da Resistência. Direitos Humanos no Brasil. Atila Roque. Rafael Custódio. Sandra Carvalho. Sueli Carneiro. Ubirajara N Sompre. Haris Azhar.

By Sarah Furtado*

Delays in enforcement of human rights protection, absence of State support, and difficulty in securing legitimacy are some of the prime challenges faced by human rights advocates from around the world. Another aggravating factor to this list: vulnerability.

That was the theme debated this morning, October 4, at the Memorial of Resistance, as part of the programme of the 15th International Human Rights Colloquium. The panel, mediated by Haris Azhar of Lokataru Foundation, provided an overview of the current human rights situation in the Americas, and, in particular, in Brazil.

New forms of legal red tapes are put into practice to prevent human rights defenders taking actions. Any organised and engaged civil society is seen as a threat to the government that violates rights. “In fact, many countries communicate with each other and borrow new forms of ideas of criminalisation,” explains Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders.

Sueli Carneiro, director of the Geledés Institute, brought the discussion to the Brazilian perspective and emphasised that it is impossible to comprehend the extent of human rights violations – in Brazil – without a racial bias. According to her, the causes and consequences of inequality are strictly linked to the selective oppressions of the police and the justice system and lack of empathy from the community. “There is a conspiracy to exterminate Brazil’s black population, but the resistance has been heroic,” she says.

Sueli’s speech reverberated as Atila Roque intervened, regional director of the Ford Foundation, who underscored how Brazilian society tends to keep its privileges and how this dynamics directly affect the poor and black population. Rafael Custódio, coordinator of the Conectas Justice program, added, “the judiciary is white, and so is the Public Prosecutor, and the people they judge are blacks and the poor. We need to hold the Brazilian justice system accountable for this violation, too.”

Apart from underlining ever-present racism, Sandra Carvalho, Global Justice, drew attention to machismo as a delimiting factor for the realisation of rights. Ubirajara Sompre, from Coiab, highlighted the perspective of indigenous people and recalled how previous attempts to amend and actual changes made in Brazilian legislation, such as the revision of land demarcations of indigenous people, directly affect the livelihood of these population.

At the end of the debate, Sueli Carneiro pointed out the main challenge for human rights defenders in Brazil today. “Brazil needs a new civilizatory agreement. This is the challenge today! We depend on the good samaritans like ourselves destroying the patriarchy elected hegemonically by the elites to establish the agreement,” said Carneiro.

About the Colloquium
Between October 2 and 6, 80 human rights activists from 31 countries are gathering in São Paulo for the 15th International Human Rights Colloquium. The objective of the event is to discuss the theme “Human rights: crisis or transition?”, share experiences and propose solutions to face setbacks at local, regional and global levels.

This year, Conectas organises the meeting with Forum Asia (Thailand), the Human Rights Centre of the University of Pretoria (South Africa) and Dejusticia (Colombia). The event is supported by Ford Foundation, OAK Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Channel Foundation and The Fund For Global Human Rights. We also thank the FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas), the Memorial of the Resistance, APAC (Associação Pinacoteca Arte e Cultura), the Immigration Museum and the government of the State of São Paulo, that generously provided with the venues for the meetings.

*Sarah Furtado is a volunteer journalists from the coverage group of the 15th International Human Rights Colloquium. English translation by Partha Sarker, a refugee from Bangladesh.