University outreach for human rights:

from democratic resistance to human rights education

Abstract

The process of democratic reconstruction in the 1980s was led by struggles and social movements. Since the 1970s, democratic resistance in Brazil has resulted in the creation of human rights entities and movements focused on the defense of education. During this process, university sectors and faculty members came closer to the families of political prisoners, rural workers, women, indigenous peoples, and environmental movements, nurturing the first human rights organizations. The struggles for freedom and social rights were united in understanding that democracy would not come without the articulation of these rights. The proposal – University outreach for human rights: from democratic resistance to human rights education – outlines a path taken over during 29 years of teaching at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), especially in the human rights outreach actions that were the object of study in the author’s doctoral thesis in Education. The bibliographical research conducted throughout the doctoral thesis, as well as the academic production built up during the teaching practice, provided theoretical support for this work. The studies and research confer the centrality of university outreach for the inclusion of human rights in the university and its participation in the national human rights policy.