Julia Neiva

Brazil

Julia Neiva, from Brazil, is a cofounder of Conectas Direitos Humanos, where she currently serves as a deputy director. She has been instrumental in coordinating alliances among Brazilian civil society groups. Her work, done in collaboration with international organizations and groups, is focused on combating authoritarianism and defending an inclusive and egalitarian democracy.

Her commitment to social justice drives her fight against all forms of oppression and discrimination with democracy, gender, race, and socioenvironmental rights in particular. Neiva has supported human rights defenders and affected communities, organized civil society groups with strategic actions, and coordinated networks such as LogoLink. She has also led human rights courses and workshops across the Global South and participated in litigation for landmark cases before the Brazilian Supreme Court and in the international system of human rights protection.

Neiva has lectured and moderated working group discussions on human rights in Brazil and around the world. Her professional background includes roles at the Business and Human Rights Centre, Polis Institute, African American Policy Forum, the Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, and the Center for Reproductive Rights. She was a 2006 Human Rights Fellow at Columbia Law School and a cofounder of the Clinic on Human Rights and Business at the Fundação Getulio Vargas São Paulo Law School.

She holds a law degree from Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, a master of laws degree from Columbia University Law School, and a PhD from the Human Rights Program at the University of São Paulo Law School. She is a member of two research groups at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University.

Neiva currently serves on the boards of directors for the French human rights organization Sherpa and the US-based Bank Information Center, and is a collaborating member of the Arns Commission.