Bahey eldin Hassan, the director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, held several meetings with senior officials in Brazil to discuss the crisis of human rights in nations of the Global South, and particularly the Arab world, and the role that democracies like Brazil can play to address this extended crisis. Brazil suffered under a military dictatorship in the 1960s and 70s before transitioning to democracy in the 1980s and becoming one of the few industrial powerhouses in the Global South.
The meetings were held in Brasilia. In the presidential palace, Hassan met with Audo Faleiro, an advisor of the President for foreign policy, while in the Foreign Ministry he met with Alexander Peña, the director of the ministry’s Human Rights and Social Affairs Department, and Prdro Saldanha, the director of the Human Rights Section.
Hassan also met with Senator Aloysio Nunes, the chair of the chamber’s Foreign Relations and National Defense Committee, along with two of his aides, as well as with Senator Regina Sousa, the chair of the Human Rights Committee, and two of her aides.
It was agreed to continue discussions on human rights issues on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva and in cities with CIHRS offices, based on the shared conviction of the universality of human rights and the importance of promoting the role of Global South democracies in human rights issues in international and regional forums.
During his meetings, Hassan was invited to sit in on a session of the Brazilian parliament on May 28 on human rights in Brazilian foreign policy, to be attended by the Brazilian foreign minister as well, but he was unable to accept the invitation, having already committed to attending a session of the European parliament on the human rights crisis in Egypt.
Conectas, one of the most important and largest human rights groups in Brazil, arranged the meetings between Hassan and Brazilian officials, but did not take part in them.
On May 23, following the meetings, a workshop was held in São Paulo, organized jointly by “Conectas” and the “CIHRS”, on how to empower democracies in the South to address human rights crises around the world. Rights workers from 17 countries in the Arab world, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America attended.
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