Foreign Policy and Human Rights
 

UN, Geneva - 2011

Created in 2005, the goal of this project is to strengthen the international protection of human rights, promoting the use of the UN and regional human rights systems by NGOs in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Conectas also seeks to make Global South countries, particularly Brazil, accountable for its foreign policies on human rights.

To promote access by NGOs to the UN and regional human rights systems, Conectas organizes training courses, provides technical support, develops advocacy activities, fosters the creation of networks and carries out trans-regional campaigns.

In Brazil, Conectas works on creating mechanisms for civil society to participate in and monitor foreign policy. It is a founding member of the Brazilian Committee on Human Rights and Foreign Policy. Since 2007, Conectas has published the yearbook “Human Rights: Brazil at the UN”, a compilation of Brazil’s votes and initiatives, as well as of the recommendations addressed to the country.

Foreign Policy and Human Rights project's main activities are:

1) To monitor and influence the Brazilian foreign policy impacting human rights, by increasing access to information, working with the media, increasing dialogue and interaction with relevant stakeholders and conducting advocacy work.

2) To foster and empower NGOs from key emerging democratic powers to work on their countries’ foreign policies on human rights – such as Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa.

3) To make use of regional and international systems to contribute to the improvement of the human rights situation in Brazil and Global South countries, and supporting other southern NGOs in doing so. 

In 2010, Conectas established a permanent representation in Geneva (Switzerland), in partnership with the organizations Centro de Estudios Legales e Sociales (Argentina) and Corporación Humanas (Chile).