IIHR in the Americas - Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos

Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos
IIHR in the Americas
No. 216 – Special supplement of the bi-monthly newsletter
of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights - Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, June 18-29, 2012
1st Brazilian Interdisciplinary Course on Human Rights (IBDH IIDH)
“The time for soup and blankets has passed: now we are hungry for public policies”
Maria Lúcia Santos Pereira
National Coordinator of the Movement
of Street people in Brazil
Student and speaker at the 1st Brazilian Course
Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. The 1st Brazilian
Interdisciplinary Course on Human Rights:
Human rights from the perspective of poverty was
held from June 18-29, led by the Inter-American
Institute of Human Rights (IIHR) in partnership
with the Brazilian Institute of Human Rights
(Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos-IBDH)
with support from the Ombudsman and the
State Government of Ceará through its Special
Coordinator for Public Policy and Human Rights and its Secretariat for Justice and Citizenship; the University
of Fortaleza, UNIFOR; and the Human Rights Secretariat of the President’s Office. The first interdisciplinary
course outside IIHR headquarters was a success and opened the door for the commemoration of the thirtieth
anniversary of this annual activity established in September 1983 by the President and founder of the Institute,
Professor Thomas Buergenthal, and Director Hernan Montealegre Klenner.
Over two weeks, 105 participants from across Brazil, representing diverse sectors including government and
civil society (prosecutors, public defenders, the judiciary, social movements, detainees, academia, etc.) focused
on the study of human rights from the perspective of poverty. This is a core issue on the international agenda,
as well as in Brazil, and is one of the greatest challenges facing the human rights system. The course was also
attended by a number of national and international (Colombia and Spain) observers.
This academic experience, a first in Brazil, was organized through the coordination of the IIHR Director,
Roberto Cuéllar M.; César Barros Leal, IBDH President, Ombudsman of Ceará and member of the IIHR Board
of Directors; and Soledad García Muñoz, regional IIHR representative for South America.
The academic program, a replica of the 26th Interdisciplinary Course taught in 2008, included the following
topics: the justiciability of human rights linked to poverty in the inter-American system; methodologies for
the study of human rights progress indicators; public policies to combat poverty; development, democracy
and human rights; the role of the Human Rights Commission and the Court; media, poverty and human rights;
gender, women’s rights, and sexual diversity; and the rights of indigenous peoples and afro-descendants.
Participants also analyzed civil society experiences with the enforceability of ESCR; the criminalization of
poverty; and prison systems.
The Course included lectures, panels,
addressed and specialized working groups,
as well as examination of a hypothetical
case on the right to health which culminated
in simulated hearings before the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights. As a
complementary activity, students visited
three institutions (a female prison, a
nursery for children of female prisoners,
and a socio-educational center for youth
in conflict with the law), a highly valued
component of the Course for the sense of ownership it provided on the subject and its fulfillment of pedagogical
objectives.
The Course had an imminently qualified teaching staff, which included the following national professors and/
or residents of Brazil: Antonio A. Cançado Trindade, César Barros Leal, Jayme Benvenuto, Gisele Chaves
Sampaio Alcântara, Julia Schirmer, Luciana Garcia, Jorge Abrahão, Marcelo Simas, Suzana Varjão, Alberto
Perdigão, Mário Lisboa Theodoro, Renato Zerbini Ribeiro Leão, María da Penha, Andréa Rossati, Lilia Maia
de Morais Sales, Maria Lúcia Santos Pereira, Isabel Seixas, Mônica Sillan, Laura Schwarz, Márcia Muchagata,
Andrea Pacheco Pacífico, César Barreira, Maria do Livramento Santos, Carlos Weis, George Malmerstein,
Herbert José de Almeida Carneiro, Cornelius Okwudili Ezeokeke, Milton Jordão de Freitas Pinheiro Gomes,
Ana Fonseca, Herton Ellery Araujo, Danielle Annoni and Luis Roberto Barroso.
Instructors from other countries in Latin America and Europe included: Pedro Nikken and Monica Pinto,
Permanent Advisor and member of the IIHR General Assembly, respectively; Mayra Falck Roxana Reyes (IIHR
consultant); Elvira Domínguez Redondo; Julieta Morales Sánchez; Gerardo Caetano; Magdalena Sepúlveda
Carmona (UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty); María Cristina Perceval; Amerigo Incalcaterra
(OHCHR Regional Representative for South America); Gabriel Valladares (representative of the International
Committee of the Red Cross); and, from the IIHR, Soledad García Muñoz and Jorge Padilla.
The 1st Brazilian
Interdisciplinary Course
on Human Rights, a total
success
After two weeks of total
immersion, the 1st Brazilian
Interdisciplinary
Course
on Human Rights was
unanimously described as a
successful event by alumni
and
national/international
observers. Many participants
expressed their gratitude
to the organizers for the
quality of the academic
presentations, panels, case studies and thematic exercises. For two weeks the Course provided an exceptionally
rich vision of human rights (civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental), their challenges and
the inter-American system that was established to protect them.
Choosing the theme of poverty helped to promote a fruitful discussion that included different perspectives
on one of the most serious and pressing problems in Brazil and the region. The heterogeneity of students
was crucial to ensuring the interdisciplinary nature of the Course, which was attended by a large number of
professionals from various fields, in addition to many civil society representatives.
With great efficiency and through meaningful discussion in working groups, the 1st Brazilian Interdisciplinary
Course on Human Rights fostered the development of strategic short-term proposals, a necessary contribution
to the full realization of human rights in Brazil on key issues, such as access to justice, public safety, economic,
social, cultural and environmental rights, and equality and non-discrimination. These initiatives included the
creation and establishment of permanent interdisciplinary observatories that will accompany and monitor
relevant state and federal work, while also identifying specific actions for the empowerment and protection of
the human rights of those living on the streets.
In its 1st Brazilian edition, the Interdisciplinary Course was a vehicle for learning human rights in theory and
practice, especially through testimonials shared by students that brought moments of great emotion. Among
those who shared experiences were María da Penha, whose name adorns the Brazilian law on violence against
women; Andrea Rossati, a transvestite woman who fights for LGBT rights; María Lúcia Santos Pereira, who
recounted her personal and collective experiences of living on the streets; Cornelius Okwudili Ezeokeke, who
shared a moving story on life before and after being in prison; and Maria do Livramento Santos (Mentinha),
a leader among seafood fishermen, who in addition to the strength of her testimony, surprised the audience by
interpreting poems and songs full of meaning. Even the arts, whose manifestations are so rich and longstanding
in Brazil, were very present during the 1st Course.
All of these activities have formed part of the
meaning and objective of the Interdisciplinary
Course on Human Rights which, for thirty
years, has taken place at IIHR headquarters
in Costa Rica and, for the first time, was held
in Brazil under management, coordination
and joint implementation of the Brazilian
Institute of Human Rights (IBDH) and the
IIHR Regional Office for South America,
based in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Finally, as part of the institutionalization
of the IIHR’s flagship activity, the Institute
signed a cooperation agreement with the
Brazilian Institute of Human Rights on the
promotion of human rights in Brazil. The agreement includes a commitment to holding a second edition of the
Course in the first half of 2013 in Fortaleza, Ceará, which is becoming a capital of human rights in Brazil, as
the IIHR Director said in his final message at the closing of the Course.
Photo Gallery and video of the closing message from the IIHR Director online here, or download here