State Council for the Defense of Human Rights of the State of Sao Paulo

Brazil endured a military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985 that restricted individual liberties, deeply injuring the rights of the individuals. With the end of the exceptionable regime, there was a need for a new social alliance with the objective to provide the least guarantees for the right of free speech to the Brazilian people, which culminated in the well known "Citizen Constitution" of 1988. Despite the federal statutes, the federate states, urged by public complaints all over the country, accomplished to create agencies in defense and protection of the human rights.State councils were thus created across the country on the purpose to denounce the violations of human rights in each state. In Sao Paulo it was created the CONDEPE - Conselho Estadual de Defesa dos Direitos da Pessoa Humana (Human Rights Defense State Council) in 1991, which renders important services to the society of Sao Paulo, in so far as it is active in various social issues concerning man ' s dignity. In order to provide a better organization and supervision of any kind of violations of human rights, the Council has created specialized committees capable of a better control and efficiency in the struggle against the violations of human rights.