Office overview | |
---|---|
Formed | 7 April 1997 |
Headquarters | Setor Comercial Sul – B, Quadra 9, Lote C, Ed. Parque Cidade Corporate, Torre "A", 10º andar Brasília, DF 70308-200, Brazil |
Annual budget | US$ 149.5 million (2009) |
Minister responsible | |
Website | direitoshumanos.gov.br |
The Secretariat for Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic (Portuguese: Secretaria de Direitos Humanos da Presidência da República, or "SDH") is an office attached to the Presidency of Brazil. Its purpose is to implement, promote, and protect human rights, civic rights, and the rights of children, adolescents, the elderly, and the disabled.
The Secretariat was created on 7 April 1997, during the first administration of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Originally called the National Human Rights Secretariat (Secretaria Nacional dos Direitos Humanos), it was initially attached to the Ministry of Justice. On 1 January 1999, responsibility for the Secretariat was transferred to the President's office. On May 28, 2002, it was renamed Special Secretariat for Human Rights (Secretaria Especial dos Direitos Humanos). It assumed its current name on March 25, 2010, when it became an essential office of the Presidency.
SDH is headed by the Secretary for Human Rights (Secretário de Direitos Humanos), a ministerial-level position. The incumbent is Ideli Salvatti, who has been in office since April 1, 2014. Her predecessor was Maria do Rosário, who headed the Secretariat between January 1, 2011, and April 1, 2014.
SDH operates as the Brazilian Federal Central Authority under the terms of article 6 of the 1993 Hague Adoption Convention. Besides this, the secretariat also acts as the central authority under the terms of article 6 of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. In this respect, it functions as a conduit between other countries' central authorities and the various Regional Federal Tribunals in Brazil which deal with international child abduction cases. In this sense, it is the equivalent of the US Department of State's Office of Children's Issues and the UK's Office of the Official Solicitor.