The official announcement of the creation of the Stakeholder Group of People of African Descent at the United Nations in May is a historic victory for Geledés-Instituto da Mulher Negra, which initiated this campaign at the UN in September 2023. More than that, it is a victory for all global diasporas, since for the first time, Afro-descendant voices, in an institutionalized way, are included in the participatory structures of the United Nations. In addition to Geledés, the co-presidency (Steering Committee) includes the NGO Criola and UNARC (UN Anti-racism Coalition).

In recent years, Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the Brazilian Supreme Court has assumed a central position in the public debate. His actions have divided opinions: on one side, there are those who proclaim him a bastion of the defense of democracy in Brazil. On the other, there are those who condemn him as an executioner of freedom of expression.

Amidst the hustle and bustle over the Amazon rainforests, a silent giant is crying out for attention: the Cerrado. The second largest biome in South America, it covers 2,036,448 km² – the equivalent of 22% of Brazil’s territory, spread across ten states and the Federal District (Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Maranhão, Bahia, Piauí, Tocantins, Roraima and Pará). But, in the wake of the heated debates at COP 30, why does the Cerrado remain relegated to the background?

Brazil is a global leader in agriculture and land investments but also in the assassination of environmental defenders and in tropical deforestation that drives massive droughts, floods, and extinctions. Of Brazil’s vast 8.5 million km² territory, half lies within overlapping tenure categories, one-sixth is absent from officially registered maps, 6.4% lacks an official land-use designation, and nearly 10% was under active land conflict in 2022. What explains this disorderly and violent frontier expansion that threatens Indigenous people, ecosystems, and even agricultural viability itself?

We are living through a particularly challenging time for human rights in the Americas. Beyond the persistent violations affecting Indigenous peoples, Black communities, women, LGBTQIA+ persons, migrants, human rights defenders, and many other vulnerable groups, the continent is facing a broader crisis marked by the weakening of multilateralism and the growing difficulty of achieving consensus within states, between them, and even within the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Former President Jair Bolsonaro was indicted on February 18, 2025 by the Office of the Attorney General (PGR) for committing several crimes, including an attempted coup d'état, abolition of the democratic rule of law, and criminal organization, along with 33 other people. The Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) unanimously accepted the indictment on March 26, 2025, thus making him a defendant.

I am the first Black and trans woman elected to the Brazilian Congress and one of the most influential progressive voices in Brazil, and I had my gender deliberately changed from “feminine” to “masculine” on a diplomatic visa issued by the U.S. Embassy in Brasília.

Between advances and setbacks in recent years, the demarcation of indigenous lands has faced major challenges at the national level due to the “time frame” (marco temporal) thesis. In this context, international bodies have been essential in reminding Brazil of its commitments to Indigenous peoples.

The Supreme Federal Court has decided to reconsider the responsibility for the crimes committed by the military dictatorship. This does not seem to be a mere coincidence with the success of the wonderful film Ainda Estou Aqui (I’m Still Here) by Walter Salles Filho. But knowing whether it was the film or another fact is not so important, since what is important is to overcome the constant refusal of the judiciary to deal with the legacy of the authoritarian regime that governed the country from 1964 to 1985.

Attacking the territorial rights of indigenous peoples is taking a step closer to the end of the world. It seems alarming at first glance, but it is a catastrophic scenario that is approaching, according to reports from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Indigenous lands, which are the largest areas of climate security in Brazil, face a legal theory known as the “temporal framework,” which holds that Indigenous peoples only have the right to constitutionally guaranteed territories if they had settled there on the date of the promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988. This thesis is trying to be incorporated into the Brazilian legal system by the three branches of government.

In a rapidly evolving information technology landscape, the journalistic ecosystem faces a dilemma: while technological advances have amplified the plurality of voices, diversified formats, fostered greater innovation, and enabled increased interaction with audiences, ensuring that the integrity of information has become an urgent priority, guaranteeing that technological evolution serves the public interest and democracy is an essential task for the future of journalism and society.

The African Studies Center (ASC) at Michigan State University (MSU), a leading institution for African studies in the United States and globally, marks its 65th anniversary with a yearlong celebration featuring events highlighting the global reach of Black activism and thought. Among the honorees is Abdias Nascimento, the renowned dramatist, professor, visual artist, activist, and author whose contributions to Black consciousness and transnational dialogues on race continue to shape discourse worldwide.

In the coming months, Brazil may begin blasting a river in the Amazon to create an industrial shipping channel. The Hidrovia Araguaia-Tocantins, largely unknown outside Brazil, could span over 3,000 km, bringing profound consequences: disrupting traditional livelihoods, endangering food security and biodiversity, threatening public health, increasing carbon emissions, and altering forests in Indigenous, quilombola, and ribeirinho territories. Experts warn that its impact could rival the Belo Monte dam, yet unlike Belo Monte, this project has advanced quietly through thousands of pages of studies with little civil society debate.

In a clearly atypical year, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the United Nations’ global parliament on the subject, began its most important session of the year in February known as the High-level Segment. In this segment, senior authorities from member states register to the world their concerns and directions for the global wind of human rights.

Almost a month after Donald Trump's inauguration for his second term as US president, it is clear that the issue of immigration has been central to his agenda, especially with regard to entry control, the deportation of people in an irregular situation, and the suspension of funding for humanitarian actions and organizations linked to the UN system that work on human mobility. These measures, widely highlighted by the government's communications team, demonstrate Trump's ability to meet the desires of a significant portion of his electoral base, ensuring their loyalty and reinforcing his political agenda.

Between December 4 and 6, 2024, a delegation of progressive Brazilian congressional members was in Washington D.C. for a series of strategic meetings with their U.S. counterparts and other key actors, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the State Department, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (ECLAC).

In 2024, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance capitalized on consumer discontent over inflation to make Democratic culpability for the steepening price of food staples a popular theme of their truth-challenged crusade to defeat the Biden administration. Over the months leading up to the election, the cost of a dozen eggs became a major campaign issue across the United States. In his July 19th speech at the Republican National Convention, Trump assured his followers, the country, and the world that that he would lower costs “on day one.” Before taking office on January 20, 2025, he postulated to the press that he had won the election “on groceries,” avowing: “We’re going to bring those prices way down.”

In June 2023, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) denied Petrobras a license to explore for oil in the Foz do Amazonas basin, in what was perhaps the first internal political conflict of the Lula III government between a vision that opposes economic development to the environment and another that seeks to align public policies with the climate emergency. In the last decade, the climate crisis has become an indisputable issue, with increasing mobilization of governments and organizations. In recent speeches, Lula highlighted the responsibility of the Global North and the need to implement climate agreements. On the domestic front, the government launched the "Ecological Transformation Plan" within the new Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), suggesting a more responsible stance in this area.

No one should be surprised by the dozens of executive orders that Donald Trump signed on Monday, January 20, the first day in office as the 47th president of the United States. He was very clear during the election campaign about what he wanted to do during his second term in office.