Coordination: Susana Alves-Jesus

Presentation

The long journey of struggling for the global human rights conquest, particularly since the last decades of the 20TH century, with the appearance and entry into force of various legal instruments and the implementation of institutions that guarantee their defence, is still far from over and is renewed every day by the constant attacks on these rights, which we can observed, with different nuances, all over the world. If, on the one hand, the current context of globalization has allowed the dissemination of human rights and the values that underpin them, on the other hand, there has also been an upsurge of various discriminatory discourses and movements, witnessed by the media and echoed on a large scale via new technologies (for example, social networks).

In this context, it is increasingly important to analyse, systematise, understand and reflect on the role of this central figure of human rights in the contemporary world, its lines of strength, but also weaknesses and difficulties of implementation in a globalized society, strongly impacted by technicization and the permanence of political, social, educational, religious, cultural factors that promote inequalities and contexts of injustice and various segregation. By going back to its historical-philosophical and cultural foundations, which help towards a broader understanding of the theme of human rights and the dignity of the human person today, in addition to a critical interpretation of its current theoretical contours and practical implementation, the present line aims to problematize the discourse of rights in the context of globalization: On the one hand, its theoretical, historiographical and cultural roots will be taken into consideration; on the other hand, the importance of reflecting on, systematizing and pointing out paths for its more effective implementation in practical terms will be highlighted, namely with a view to raising awareness of human rights through education, culture and a more active citizenship.

Objectives

• To enhance, within the framework of Human and Social Sciences, the critical analysis and the broad understanding of the problematic of human rights in the contemporary world, in the context of globalization.
• To systematise and deepen knowledge about human rights today, in the light of a historical and cultural perspective, in order to complexify their meaning and highlight their value as promoters of more open, democratic and fraternal societies.
• To promote an informed and pedagogical culture on human rights in the context of globalization.
• To raise awareness, deepen and train for human rights, enhancing a dynamic, participatory and extended learning of the same.
• To foster the dissemination of systematized knowledge on human rights, with special recourse to free-access online digital environments.

Projects and initiatives

• Dignipédia global: dicionário histórico-crítico para os direitos humanos – Reference work, drawn up from the survey and systematization of the main terms and concepts that characterize the area in question. Adaptation of the same for a children’s audience. Available in book format and in digital format, on an online open access platform.
• An illustrated global history of human rights – A work with a thematic and historical perspective on the paths to awareness of human dignity and the sense of a shared humanity throughout time, with extensive use of emblematic texts, as well as evoking institutions, figures, facts and various sources that testify to the emergence of the issue, also relying on iconographic sources.
• Historical and Documentary Online Fund on Human Rights in Portugal – Digital archive with literary anthology; journalistic sources; iconographic collection.
• Observatory of Intolerance in Portugal – For the analysis, reflection and understanding of stereotypes that characterise negative cultures, with a view to promoting dialogue and an increasingly inclusive active citizenship.
• Promotion of scientific events, such as seminars, conferences, symposia, as well as actions of extended dissemination on citizenship and human rights, also targeting children and youth.