Longtime Channel Brazilian grantee partner Conectas launched the landmark 30th issue of its Sur International Journal of Human Rights in August 2020. The objective of Sur 30 is to look at human rights defenders from a different perspective – to celebrate defenders’ victories (and not the extreme challenges they face) by focusing on their lives and the paths they have taken.
Conectas created Sur Journal in 2004 as a vehicle to deepen and strengthen bonds between academics and activists from the Global South dedicated to human rights. Since then, more than 350 articles have been published from 50 countries. 75% of the authors are from the Global South. The articles have discussed issues as diverse as health and access to treatment, transitional justice, regional mechanisms, and the right to information, to name just a few. The 24th issue focused on Women: Movements, Successes and Obstacles.
Increasingly, Sur Journal has become a practical tool for its readers’ work, informing individuals and organizations working to defend human rights by offering valuable research, meaningful reflections, and relevant case studies that combine both academic rigor and practical interest. Sur also is committed to using accessible languages and art to reach diverse audiences.
In this 30th edition of Sur, readers will find the powerful stories of individuals, groups, organisations, and movements that are part of the broad spectrum of actors engaged in the fight for human rights. The contributors hail from a wide geographical range (15 countries) and reflect on topics as diverse as historical struggles of human rights defenders, institutional struggles and the work of activists, care and self-care, new kinds of activism and unconventional experiences in the defense of rights, and art that weaves together narratives, struggles, and memories.
