Background

VII International Human Rights Colloquium

The annual event, created in São Paulo in 2001, has been a training and networking opportunity for human rights activists and scholars. In the past, it has taken place wholly in three languages (English, Portuguese, and Spanish) and for the first time this year, it will also be held in French. The gatherings facilitate a dialogue between different work agendas of the human rights movement and, as of today, have brought together over 600 activists and scholars from 53 countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and since last year, Eastern Europe.

During its first three years, the Colloquium was organized by the Human Rights University Consortium – a cooperation agreement between the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, the University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), and Columbia University - New York. 

Since 2004, the event has been organized by Conectas Human Rights.


How to continue working together after the Colloquium?

After each Colloquium, a series of collaborative action continues the exchange started in Sao Paulo. Conectas seeks to facilitate collaboration between participants and engages actively in the monitoring of initiatives aimed at empowering civil society organizations in the Global South to work with regional and international systems of human rights.
 

Evaluation of the Colloquium:

Every year, Conectas has carried out evaluations with the participants of the Colloquium during and after the event and has taken the results into consideration for the implementation of changes and improvements in its format and content.

Past evaluations of the Colloquium have produced positive results. The participants have made helpful comments suggesting activities for upcoming editions. They have also recommended that Conectas continue their efforts to create an instrument for measuring the impact of the event within the human rights movement.

Click here to see a presentation of photos from 2010 edition.

Click here to see a video from 2010 edition.

Click here to see also the testimonials of the participants from the 2010 edition