During this month of women, CESE would like to congratulate Eliana Rolemberg for her work and dedication to the struggle for Human Rights in Brazil. In recognition of her efforts for the state, Eliana, who is originally from São Paulo, will receive the title of honorary citizen of Bahia from state deputy Neusa Cadore, on 16 March, at 9 am in the Bahia State Legislative Assembly (Assembleia Legislativa da Bahia: ALBA).
The sociologist, who worked for CESE’s advisory team for 30 years, will be honoured during a special session on “Democracy and Human Rights” in Plenary Assembly. Other organizations working in this area will also attend the event.
Eliana described her joy at receiving this title, in the region in which she chose to live, in a few words. “I am happy because, ever since my involvement in university politics in São Paulo, I have always been particularly attracted to the Northeast, to its people, its culture, its struggles”.
She confirmed that asserting Human Rights and the defence of democracy have always been her priorities, throughout her life. “These two themes have guided my engagement in the areas in which I have acted, and continue to act. This choice has required a great deal of commitment and resistance, including confronting precarious conditions, death threats and repression during the military dictatorship. It has often required abdicating personal undertakings in favour of the struggle for the structural transformations that guarantee the attainment of rights for all”.
Eliana ended with the certainty that challenges remain for equality in this country. “The times we are living in today bring back many memories of the difficulties faced over the years of a total lack of democracy, and demonstrate the need to reinforce our commitment to the losses of rights attained through so many struggles, such suffering and grassroots pressure”.
About Eliana Bellini Rolemberg
A sociologist, graduate of the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. From 1970 to 1971, during the military dictatorship, she was a political prisoner, who was then exiled to France, until 1979, where she worked in UNESCO’s Youth Division and the French Section of the Migrants and Refugees Sector of the International Civil Service (Serviço Civil Internacional: SCI). On her return to Brazil she worked from 1979-83 in the Bahia and Sergipe regional department of the Pastoral Land Commission (Comissão Pastoral da Terra: CPT). In 1983, she joined the advisory team of the Ecumenical Coordination of Service (Coordenadoria Ecumênica de Serviço: CESE), where she remained until 2013. From 2000 to 2013, she was the organization’s Executive Director. She is a member of the Brazil Region of the Latin American Council of Churches (Conselho Latino-Americano de Igrejas: CLAI). Since the end of 2011, she has represented the CLAI on a Working Group, instituted through Decree 7568 of 16.09.2011 and coordinated by the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, to define, amongst other things, the new Regulatory Framework for the relationship between Civil Society Organizations and the government (Marco Regulatório das Organizações da Sociedade Civil: MROSC). As well as participating in the CSO Facilitating Platform, she also represents CESE and the CLAI at the Inter-religious Collective for MROSC, which brings together representatives from different religious denominations. In addition, she represents CESE on the Consultative Council of the Mixed Parliamentary Front in Defence of CSOs.
In December 2015, she represented CESE on the state of Bahia’s Working Group which brought together the government and civil society organizations to construct the draft regulatory decree for Law 13019/2014. She participates in the Collegiate Department of the MROSC Platform of Bahia. She occupies a substitute position in the Defence of Rights section of the Council for Promotion and Collaboration (Conselho de Fomento e Colaboração: CONFOCO). She is currently on the Board of ELO – Connection and Consultation (ELO – Ligação e Assessoria) and represents it on the State Board of the Brazilian Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (Associação Brasileira de Organizações Não-Governamentais: ABONG); she is also a Board member for the Centre for Studies and Social Action (Centro de Estudos e Ação Social: CEAS), as Director of Administration in its 2017-19 management team. She describes herself as a Human Rights activist.
Eliana Rolemberg receives the title of honorary citizen of Bahia in special session at the Legislative Assembly of Bahia
