Conectas Human Rights

Mission:

Conectas Human Rights is an international non-governmental, not-for-profit organization, founded in São Paulo, Brazil in October 2001, with the following mission: to enforce and promote human rights and combat inequalities to build a fair, free and democratic society from a Global South perspective.

CONECTAS NEWS:

Impact:

Since their founding in Brazil in 2001, Conectas has led the push to support and promote Global South leadership in human rights movements at national, regional and global levels. They have convened many International Human Rights Colloquiums over the years in order to bring together human rights activists and organizations from the Global South to share experiences and knowledge.  In fact, over the years, the Colloquium has brought together more than 1,500 participants from 80 countries and has become one of the “largest and most established human rights assemblies in the world.”  With a motto of diversity, the event is a “symbol of the strengthening of the struggle for human rights around the world, in pursuit of a more dignified, just and equal society.”

Channel Grants:

2010–2019: Channel made several grants over this time period to support the participation of women’s rights activists from the Global South and the inclusion of a gender specific perspective for the International Human Rights Colloquium organized by Conectas Human Rights in São Paulo, Brazil.

The International Human Rights Colloquium is a capacity-building and peer-learning conference convened for a week each year.  A wide range of Global South activists, scholars, lawyers, and other interested parties gather to hear about the latest developments in the field, make connections with colleagues from around the world, and take away vital lessons from each other’s experience.

2014: Channel made a grant to support the inclusion of women activists and a gender specific perspective in two of four regional meetings to be held in Africa and Latin America. The purpose of these meetings was to bring together a small group of diverse human rights defenders to discuss practical challenges and issues faced by the organizations in order to design a common agenda of action, first regionally, and then globally, in order to “Bring Human Rights Back to the Center.”

Conectas’ International Human Rights Colloquium had several themes over the years:

2019: The 16th Colloquium included activities in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco and Brasília. It was attended by nearly 50 human rights defenders from Brazil and other countries such as Hungary, the Philippines and Palestine. 

2017: “Human rights today: crisis or transition?”. To hear from Colloquium participants about impact on their work, view Conectas’ summary video.

2015: “Human Rights and the Streets”

2013: “A New Global Human Rights Order? Actors, Challenges, and Opportunities”

2012: “Human Rights Innovation: New Agenda, Strategies and Organizations?”

2011: “Implementation at the National Level of the Decisions of the Regional and International Human Rights Systems”

2010:  “Regional and International Human Rights Systems: Challenges for Civil Society Participation.” The annual event (Oct. 2010) celebrated its 10th Anniversary and gathered 42 human rights activists from 28 countries in the Global South, besides 29 speakers and observers.