Introduction
The Human Rights University Network - Sur was set up in 2002 with the purpose
of bringing together Southern Hemisphere academics active in the field of human
rights, and of promoting their cooperation with UN agencies. The network currently
has over 130 associates, from 36 countries, including scholars and members of
international organizations and UN agencies.
The initiative arose from a series of meetings held between academics and UN
officials involved in the field. The major motivation stemmed from the realization
that, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere, scholars tended to conduct their
work in an isolated fashion, with a very meager interchange among researchers
of the countries involved.
Sur aims to operate as a network that will deepen and strengthen bonds between
scholars concerned with the subject of human rights, magnifying their voices
and participation in UN agencies, international organizations and universities.
Within this framework, the network now offers a specific journal, Sur - International
Journal on Human Rights, with the purpose of consolidating a channel that will
publicize and promote groundbreaking research.
The journal, which intends to provide a different view of the issues involved
in this debate, takes as references other publications in the field, with which
it attempts to establish a permanent and ongoing dialogue. Nevertheless, its
singularity is a consequence of its scope, plurality and perspective.
Scope. Language will often represent
a major barrier for the establishment of long-lasting cooperative bonds among
researchers in the several countries. Although English has become largely universal,
it is not as effective as the various mother tongues of organizations and scholars
to conduct discussions about complex subjects. For this reason, Sur - International
Journal on Human Rights is published in three languages (English, Portuguese
and Spanish), and is made fully available on the Internet, at
Plurality. Another distinguishing
feature of the journal concerns the institution responsible for its publication.
Being a network, Sur can count on the collaboration of researchers from several
countries, in a sustained effort to identify issues relevant to different realities,
and with a consistent aim at exploring new frontiers in the human rights debate.
Thus, instead of mirroring the concerns and perspectives of a closed institution,
the journal opens up to a plurality of contexts and visions, which will make
themselves present in each one of its issues.
Perspective. With the aim of ensuring
internal consistency and adopting a political and not only an academic dimension,
the journal intends to privilege discussions whose main focus is centered on
the countries of the South. The point here is not to wage any ideological opposition
to the scientific production of the North, but rather to insert in the global
debate an agenda benchmarked by the demands and priorities identified by the
South in the discussion on human rights.
This publication would not have been made possible without the initial support
and the material contributions of the United Nations Foundation and of the Ford
Foundation. We would also like to thank Fundação Carlos Chagas
for its support.
|