In 2012, Brazilian President Dilma Roussef installed the Brazilian Truth Commission (CNV) to address gross human rights violations that occurred from . One of the most important sources of information available regarding this period is the files of the agencies that comprised the Brazilian intelligence system during the dictatorship. In total, there were around 12 million pages of relevant text in the National Archives. To make effective use of this trove of information, the CNV was challenged to use some data science tools to look for useful information within this huge dataset. As a result, a prototype of a data repository with selected documents (pdfs, images, etc.) has been created, which we summarize in this note. Computational tools for searching, organizing, and visualizing potentially important documents were developed and utilized to support CNV researchers. We also reflect upon the issues that complicated the CNV's ability to gain access to reliable and comprehensive data and the limitations of analysis conducted with this type of research.
is a journalist. She is a PhD student in Political Sciences, University of São Paulo (USP) and is the author of Um acerto de contas com o futuro-a anistia e suas consequências: um estudo do caso brasileiro, Editora Humanitas/Fapesp, 2006. Translated by Barney Whiteoak.
Fighting for human rights concerns public actions for promoting human rights and the strategic relations and structures within which those actions occur. Often, the success of public actions has no other guarantee than the optimism of actors and the positive effects produced by institutional agreements and historical process. The book has theoretical, empirical, and normative dimensions. Theoretically, it provides a framework to analyze contemporary human rights activism, the transnational advocacy network, and global civil society. The case studies presented are a contribution to the comprehension of processes in the fight for human rights. The case studies have been well chosen; they cover a broad range of situations of actions, strategies, processes, and outcomes.
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