The National Human Rights Movement is a network of 305 NGOs (the largest in Latin America) working for human and civil rights both nationally and locally. It was founded during the dictatorship, largely within the church (the only space allowed for civil society).
8 regions and 27 sub regions structure MNDH; all come together every two years to formulate national policy and elect a national board. Local groups are largely autonomous, gaining support from the national office, but not responsible to it. They denounce human rights violations in local, national, and international fora, working both with and against governments.
One of the main responsibilities of the national office is training local NGOs in basic human rights skills: what is the law, how does one denounce, how does one work the press? They also explain the international human rights system, what it can accomplish and what it cannot accomplish.
The national office also researches the general human rights conditions of the country. Why do persecutions happen in some states, not in others? How many violations are committed by police? On and off duty? Why such racial disparities in sentencing and arrests? They also monitor problematic cities, having discovered, for instance, that only one in a hundred murderers in Alagoas are convicted.
MNDH publishes its work in books, newsletters, pamphlets, and on the internet.
SEPN - Q 506 -- Asa Norte
Bloco C, Sala 034
70530-535
Brasilia, DF
tel: 061 273-7320 fax 061 274 7671
Contact: Rev. Olmar Klich, Secretario Geral (olmar@mndh.org.br)
www.mndh.org.br
