Brazilian human rights activism on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reports (1970-2015)

Abstract The formation of transnational advocacy networks has been a strategy increasingly used by petitioners of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to report human rights violations that occur in national territories and to demand effective responses of their countries. Recent studies claim that international organizations play a leading role within transnational advocacy networks. The main objective of this study is to identify the profile of the petitioners in Brazilian violations cases sent to the Commission between 1970 (year of the first report) and 2015. Based on data collected in the reports released by the Commission, we argue that contrary to what the literature suggests, Brazilian human rights activism on the Commission is qualitatively diverse and composed of domestic non-governmental organizations, social movements, individuals and other types of organizations that act autonomously.