Protecting human rights defenders in Brazil : a legal and socio-political analysis of the Brazilian Programme for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

I show in this thesis, first, that the creation of the Brazilian Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (PPDDH) in 2004 was the result of pressure from national and transnational civil society on the Brazilian government to address the targeting of peasant leaders and other activists who, it was argued, should be understood as human rights defenders, and offered special protection as such. Second, I show on the basis of interviews conducted with protected human rights defenders, civil society and state officials, that the programme has provided protection and support to a small but significant number of activists in some areas of the country. Third, most interviewees also pointed to the PPDDH's potential to make broader contributions to the advance of human rights in Brazil, by bolstering human rights activism, empowering organised civil society, redressing the balance of power between dominant and dominated, and changing the workings of the Brazilian State. Finally, however, they indicated the serious shortcomings of the programme such as limited budget and lack of resources, PPDDH's dependence on other actors to provide the protection for human rights defenders, and lack of dedicated legislative framework. These shortcomings reflect a lack of political will to provide sufficient resources as well as a sufficiently robust legal framework for the programme. I end by arguing that organised civil society must build up the necessary political will to demand that the State resource the PPDDH fully and effectively in order for that programme to realise its potential.