In the year in which it celebrates its 45th anniversary, CESE reissued the publication “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, during the Round Table Dialogue: “The human rights agenda in Brazil and the challenge of cooperation between local, national and international partners” at the World Social Forum.
CESE’s historical and best-known booklet has been published in a Commemorative Edition celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Declaration, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself and on articles from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, referencing biblical texts.
The edition contains new illustrations and was published in partnership with the Ecumenical Centre for Biblical Studies (Centro de Estudos Bíblicos: CEBI), the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil (Conselho Nacional de Igrejas Cristãs do Brasil: CONIC) and the Coalition for Human Rights Monitoring in Brazil.
For Sônia Mota, CESE’s Executive Director, in the face of so many rights violations and the state of exception we are experiencing, it is once again necessary to replace the booklet: “It is worth all the time and dedication required to review and update this publication. They have made it a bedside book, a pocket book, one for the struggle.”
CESE has circulated more than two million copies around the country. Distribution is aimed at society as a whole, from social movements and grassroots organizations, to schools and universities. “The extent of its editorial success is related to its quality, but also to unceasing demands from society,” declared José Carlos Zanetti, CESE’s Projects and Training Advisor. For him, this book is essential, not only for CESE and the organizations that supported its drafting, but particularly for individuals whose rights are violated. “There is a need to reinterpret these rights, ranging from the imposition of access to the market and having basic rights, empowered by neoliberalism, to the reforms that are underway”.
The “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” will also be launched in April during the 4th edition of the Music and Human Rights Show and at CESE’s General Assembly in June.