Besides research activities, the Centre is also particularly active in education, training and in the organisation of conferences, seminars, summer courses and, in particular, the Post-Graduation Course.

The Post-graduation Course in Human Rights, which began in 1999, WORKS concurrently as part of the European Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation, established in venice and organised by a consortium of 39 EU Universities, and as an independent post-graduate course, which is open to other interested ones. Partly delivered in English, the course is multidisciplinary in nature, with a broad scope.

Summer Courses, which are in English, offer a great oportunity for cultural exchange, as we have an extremely diverse selection of students, hailing from countries spanning the globe. We usually operate with the collaboration of a variety of professors and each year’s course focuses on a separate topic within the Human Rights international agenda.

We have created an annual cycle of seminars and conferences entitled the “Autumn Conference”, which was first held in 2001. Each year, the topic of the Conference is devoted to a different theme, reflecting a specific issue on the international Human Rights agenda.  

The Centre provides TRAINING, upon request, in schools, armed forces, Professional associations, etc. and it publishes books and articles written within our teaching and researching activities.

Having identified the need to compile all texts related to human rights issues, the CDH keeps an Online Portuguese Human Rights Encyclopaedia.

All of our activities are intended to be a space for the exchange of ideas and a reflection of the national and international environment associated with human rights. To further achieve this goal, we organize special events and we continually seek partnership and cooperation with other complimentary entities.

Executive Director: Professor Jónatas Machado
Programme Officer/Researcher: Carla de Marcelino Gomes
Secretary: Eurico Ventura