Democracy under Deconstruction

According to recent reports such as from Amnesty International and Global Witness, Brazil has become one of the most dangerous countries in the Americas for human rights defenders. Particularly since Bolsonaro has come to power, the situation of human rights defenders, including those defending women and land rights, has worsened considerably. Women and the LGBTI community are facing one of the largest rollbacks concerning their rights, especially regarding sexual and reproductive rights. But also the numbers of violence against women and LGBTI are rising enormously. 

At the same time, considerable efforts are being undertaken by human rights activists, women’s movements, civil society organisations, lawyers, and academics to stand up against the deconstruction of democracy and to fight for people’s rights. 

At the occasion of the visit of Brazilian human rights defenders to Brussels, we organise a discussion on the current state of democracy in Brazil, notably the deconstruction of institutions and spaces of participation as well as threats to fundamental rights, but also the attempts to stand up against these tendencies.

 Programme

18:30 – 19:00        

Registration

19:00 – 19:10        

Welcome by Barbara Unmüßig, President of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

19:10 – 19:45         

Panel discussion

• Anna Cavazzini, MEP The Greens/EFA (tbc) 
• Sandra Carvalho, Lawyer, activist of human rights, Director of Justiça Global 
• Tatiana Marins Roque, Director of Forum of Science and Culture, UFRJ
• Valdecir Nascimento, Feminist, member of black women movement, Director of Instituto Odara

19:45 – 20:30        

Q&A     

20:30 – 22:00         

Reception

Working language: English, Portuguese, Spanish (simultaneous translation provided)

Note: The conference might be subject to photo and text documentation for internal and public use.