International relations on the agenda

What is the international human rights system? What is its origin and impact? And what currently are the guidelines that steer Brazilian foreign policy?

These and other questions will be put to the 20 selected students on the 1st Course on Journalism and Human Rights who this Saturday (October 4) will attend, starting at 9 am, the first day of the course at the offices of Conectas.

Camila Asano, coordinator of Foreign Policy at the organization, will give a lecture on “The International Human Rights System and Brazilian Foreign Policy” and, immediately afterwards, give a press conference to the young journalists who come from 11 universities from 3 Brazilian states (São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul).

In her presentation, Asano will address the subject from the creation of the UN in 1945 through to the approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the implementation of more recent treaties.

She will also tackle the main international relations issues involving Brazil, which is currently an important political actor on the global stage.

“It will be important for the students to realize that Brazil has a dual role when it comes to its international action: as a “target” of decisions and recommendations that emanate from the UN, for example, and as a “player” that is part of the decision-making process, which can affect both its own situation and also the populations of other countries,” said Asano.

Afterwards, the students will have an hour and a half to write an article on the topics that were addressed. By the end of the course, at least one of each student’s articles should have been published in a media outlet with a responsible editor.

Once a week, the journalists Bruno Paes Manso, Carolina Trevisan, Cláudia Belfor and Fausto Salvadori Filho, of the Ponte group, will hold one-on-one educational sessions with the students.

The 1st Course on Journalism and Human Rights is being organized by Conectas in partnership with OBORÉ, Ponte, Abraji (Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism) and IPFD (Institute of Research, Training and Dissemination in Social Public Policies).

About the lecturer

Camila Asano completed her Masters in Political Science with distinction at the University of São Paulo (USP) in 2009. She has a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the same university and her professional work and research has focused on topics related to human rights, international organizations and foreign policy, with special attention to countries of the Global South.

As coordinator of the Foreign Policy and Human Rights project at Conectas, she conducts advocacy in conjunction with knowledge production activities. Since 2010, she has been a professor of International Relations at the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP) in São Paulo, where she teaches, among other things, the subject of human rights.

Recommended reading

International Human Rights Protection System, Flávia Piovesan

Foreign Policy and Human Rights in Emerging Countries: Insights Based on the Work of an Organization from the Global South, Camila Asano, SUR Journal #19.

Brazil can identify problems, but is it willing to promote change?, Camila Asano, Open Global Rights

Master of evasion, Conectas

Foreign Policy, Human Rights and Elections, Conectas

See the program

September 20 | 2 pm

Vladimir Herzog Hall, Union of Journalists

Fellowship and selection meeting

Lucia Nader, executive director

Other course days held at the offices of Conectas Human Rights: