March 1 marked the launch of the first edition of the international course at the Rio School on Global Governance, Democracy and Human Rights, run by FGV’s Jean Monnet Center of Excellence. The course is co-financed by the European Commission within the scope of its Erasmus+ Program and it is coordinated by Professor Paula Wojcikiewicz Almeida of Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Rio de Janeiro Law School.

This unprecedented training course received 596 applications from 503 Brazilian students in all states and the Federal District, as well as 93 students from elsewhere in Latin America, Europe and Africa. In all, 86 undergraduate and graduate students from 50 educational institutions in Brazil and abroad were selected.

The first edition of the course will last for six months. It will be taught in English, in hybrid format, in person at the FGV Rio de Janeiro Law School and transmitted virtually to students who choose the online option.

The Rio School on Global Governance, Democracy and Human Rights aims to expand knowledge about international organizations’ universal and regional practices regarding global governance.

The talks will address various topics in the center’s main research areas. The course will elucidate the role of the European Union as a global regulator, its emergence as a regulatory actor, the regulatory authority of new non-state subjects and actors in the formation of international organizations’ law and their relevance to global governance. It also aims to assess informal and multilevel decision-making mechanisms in the European and international spheres and their impact on global regulation.

The program will also explore the EU’s promotion of the rule of law and human rights in Latin America. The talks will provide understanding and critical analysis of international organizations and European Union institutions, their decision-making processes and challenges for their external action strategy in Latin America.

The course will involve high-level academics and specialists from national and international partner institutions, from countries such as Chile, Canada, Belgium, Italy and the United Kingdom, in addition to the European External Action Service.

In the course’s introductory meeting, on March 1, Paula Wojcikiewicz Almeida briefly presented the trajectory of Jean Monnet projects co-financed by the European Commission and executed at the FGV Rio de Janeiro Law School since 2010, which led to the establishment of the Center of Excellence. This semester’s content was also presented, as well as the center’s three main research areas: Global Regulation, Global Litigation, and Human Rights and Democracy.

The present edition will feature renowned professors from Brazil and abroad, including the following:

• Olivier Costa (College of Europe);
• Serena Forlati (University of Ferrara);
• Frank Hoffmeister (Brussels School of Governance and European External Action Service);
• Kai Enno Lehmann (University of Sao Paulo);
• Marco Longobardo (University of Westminster);
• Monique Sochaczewski (Brazilian Institute for Education, Development and Research);
• Salvador Herencia Carrasco (University of Ottawa);
• Monica Feria-Tinta (Twenty Essex, London);
• Paulina Astroza (University of Concepción);
• Conor Foley (Rio de Janeiro Catholic University);
• Daniel Damásio Borges (Sao Paulo State University);
• Carolina Boniatti Pavese (Sao Paulo School of Advertising and Marketing);
• Jean-Louis de Brouwer (Egmont Institute / Royal Institute for International Relations);
• Andrea Hoffmann (Rio de Janeiro Catholic University).

Professor Serena Forlati of the University of Ferrara will give the first class, on the topic of “International cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime and international human rights law: a European perspective,” on March 15.