Livewire - Amnesty International blogging for human rights

29 January 2009: Amnesty’s delegation participated in several workshops at the UFPA (Federal University of Pará) and UFRA (Federal Rural University of the Amazonia). The UFRA holds most of the thematic tents including the Human Rights tent and the Indigenous Peoples’ tent.

The representatives of the two indigenous communities of Yaky Axa and Sawhoyamaxa from Paraguay joined a workshop/forum organised by FIAN and HIC, two organisations working on the right to food and right to housing, called human rights and struggles over land, habitat and the environment.

At the UFPA, Civicus and Amnesty International held an event on civil society under threat in the early evening. It was a useful exchange of testimonies on threats to human rights defenders, from trade unionists in Latin America to women in Africa and human rights defenders in the Philippines and France.

We left the site feeling good about what we have accomplished.