Human Rights defense in Rio de Janeiro: An act of resistance to barbarism Laíze Benevides, Visiting Fellow, Centre for Applied Human Rights

Event details

Learning from Human Rights Defenders

Brazil is possibly the most dangerous country for human rights defenders (HRDs) in the world.  Recently HRDs in Rio suffered the greatest loss they could collectively suffer, when a close friend to many of them, Councilwoman Marielle Franco, was cruelly murdered in an ambush in the centre of the country's second largest city on 14 March 2018. Over 500 days ago, her friends and colleagues asked who ordered Marielle killed and they still have no answer. Meanwhile, in 2018, there were candidates elected to the state parliament, whose campaigns denied the importance of defending and guaranteeing human rights, blaming HRDs for increased urban violence.

Rio de Janeiro faces one of the worst-case scenarios, with violent administrations at the three levels of government, imposing customs standards while putting in place a systematic policy of violations of rights, endangering already low levels of democracy in the state, and with blatant increase in inequality.

Speaking about the deaths of six young blacks in five days of police operations in Rio's favelas, in a clear attempt to criminalize human rights defenders, the state governor said that the responsibility for the killings lies with the allegations made by human rights defenders. Continuing to denounce this and helping families is undoubtedly an act of resistance to barbarism in the country.

CAHR visiting fellow, human rights defender Laíze Benevides, will address the above issues in the opening lecture of the autumn term Learning from Human Rights Defenders lecture series.