Brasília, July 1, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - The IX National Human Rights Conference is proposing the creation of state and municipal human rights councils, whose function will be to enable civil society to participate in the implementation of government human rights policies. The Conference is being held in the Chamber of Deputies in Brasília. The creation of the councils is part of the National Human Rights Plan, another theme of the Conference.

The councils will be responsible for accompanying the execution of programs, projects, and activities which are expected to adhere to previously defined goals. This accompaniment will make it possible to intervene more rapidly to correct eventual problems or even to alter the course of policies that are being implemented.

"The state conferences indicated the need to create municipal and state human rights councils and a national council. Another essential point is the participation of civil society, which will also perform this monitoring, in an autonomous and independent manner," affirmed the representative of the National Human Rights Movement (MNDH), Maria Eliane Menezes.

For the Undersecretary of Human Promotion and Protection in the Special Secretariat of Human Rights, Perly Cipriano, policies in this sector should be cross-cutting, that is, they should count on everyone's participation. "We have to take all the plans from the drawing board, put them into practice, and involve society in this struggle."

The proposal for the creation of municipal and state councils also suggests that these bodies be given technical and financial assistance to conduct research and produce data bases, statistics, and follow-up reports on projects.

The IX National Human Rights Conference ends tomorrow (2). 1,200 people, including representatives of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, organized civil society, guests, and observers, are taking part in the debates.

Reporter: Irene Lôbo
Translator: David Silberstein