As a pioneer event in Tocantins in the online modality, which mobilized people from diferente parts of the world, ended this Tuesday (7th), the XI International Congress on Human Rights, organized by the Master’s Program in Jurisdictional Provision and Human Rights, the result of a partnership between the School of Judges of Tocantins (ESMAT) and the Federal University of Tocantins (UFT). The event brought together more than 4.200 participants in the seven discussion panels, with a simultaneous audience interspersed by approximately two thousand people, through the YouTube platform.
The closing ceremony was attended by the general coordinator of the Latin American Permanent Committee for Crime Prevention, UN-ILANUD Program, a body linked to the United Nations (UN), Edmundo Oliveira; the director of the School of Judges of Piauí, Judge Edvaldo Pereira de Moura; Esmat's General Director, Judge Marco Villas Boas; the Justice Court of Tocantins President, Helvécio de Brito Maia Neto; and Argentinian Magistrate Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni – emeritus professor honored in this XI Edition.
For the President of the Justice Court of Tocantins, Judge Helvécio de Brito Maia Neto, the digital realization of the XI International Congress on Human Rights had a great importance, especially from the content point of view, for debating pressing issues that gain an unique relevance facing one of the most difficult moments in human history in recent times. “We from the Judiciary of Tocantins are proud of this event, held for eleven editions, whose theme is a reference in Brazil and abroad. Every year we innovate, but in this year of 2020, due to the pandemic, we went even further, holding the event in a totally virtual way, reaching more than four thousand registrants ”, he said.
Opening the first lecture, Professor Zafaroni, who is his office, put Whipala in the background, a flag that identifies the Andean peoples and represents the Latin American cosmology of struggle for land and preservation of the environment. Used in important moments, its symbolism reflects the brotherhood between peoples and the struggle for human rights.
In his speech, Zafaroni reflected the problems that already existed in Brazil and Latin America, before the arrival of the lethal pandemic, among them the overcrowding of the Brazilian prison system, the inoperative model of detainees recovery in the country. He said it was necessary, during and post - pandemic, seek a more fraternal, more integrated and more human state model. “This is a time of great uncertainty about the future, since we know nothing about the steps to be taken, nor do scientists even know what will happen. In terms of human rights, we had many pre pandemic difficulties in Latin America, now we have to think about post - pandemic times”, he said.
For the United Nations representative, professor Dr. Edmundo Oliveira, during the pandemic, it is necessary that government officials pay attention to the most needy populations, because they need medical care, food security and other benefits. “These are social challenges that need to be reviewed, such as poverty, employment, income and human mobility, class mobility and reprogramming of the post-pandemic city. This is an interesting fact, we have to think about reprogramming post-pandemic cities”, he said.
For the general director of Esmat, Judge Marco Villas Boas, the closing of the XI Congress in online mode is gratifying for the results obtained. “Today was a very bright day for the Brazilian judiciary, for the magistracy schools, for Copedem, especially for the School of Judges of Tocantins, for the Federal University of Tocantins, for all students and members of the communities that watch us on Youtube, at a time that encourages us to follow our journey and gives us the certainty that we are moving in the right direction ”, he said.
At the Virtual Congress, topics such as Access to Medical Treatment Against Pandemic; Statistical Data of Infected Patients; Discussions on Rights to Traditional Communities; Minorities and Prison Population Exposed to the New Disease, as well as The Valorization of the Brazilian Unified System (SUS); Post-Pandemic Social and Environmental Reorganization were addressed during the seven days of intense debates. Currently, the disease has already spread to more than 200 countries on all continents. In Brazil, more than 60 thousand people died.
