Fundação Getulio Vargas honored retired Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) Justice Carlos Ayres Britto on February 13. Justice Ayres Britto received the FGV Award for Human Rights from the Rio de Janeiro Law School (Direito Rio) and São Paulo Law School (Direito SP) for his contribution in promoting and upholding Human Rights.

The opening lecture was led by the dean of Direito Rio, professor Joaquim Falcão, who pointed out that 2017 will still be a troublesome year for Brazil, and that Ayres Britto’s resolve and composure are what earned him the FGV Award for Human Rights. Following Falcão’s speech, FGV President Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal took the stand to remember that the award honors individuals who help promote human rights in Brazil.

Next, the dean of Direito SP, professor Oscar Vilhena, spoke about Ayres Britto’s leading role in upholding human rights. He pointed out the Justice’s role as judge-rapporteur on high profile cases such as same-sex union, anencephaly and stem cell applications, which according to Vilhena, brought back the debate on human dignity under the limelight, where it belongs.

“Carlos Ayres has extensive legal knowledge and experience when it comes to acknowledging new rights, leading the Supreme Court in defense of the Maria da Penha law or the rights of native Brazilians. He also played a key role ahead of cases in defense of democracy, such as the ficha limpa [clean slate] act and the nepotism case. Not to mention Criminal Action 470, the so-called Mensalão trial, where his articulation and leadership ahead of the proceedings allowed the supreme court to prevail at a time of great dichotomy, bestowing a sense of equity to the law that perhaps Brazilians had never seen before,” said Vilhena.

Next, Ayres Britto took the stand. Praising individual liberties and human rights, Ayres Britto stressed the importance of compassion, serenity, empathy and wisdom at times of crisis like the one faced by the country. Paraphrasing Einstein, he celebrated the advancement of the justice system in defense of human dignity and the Brazilian constitution in recent years.

“When the human mind opens up to a new idea, it never returns to its original size. A historical turning point shedding light onto the relevance of Criminal Action 470 (Mensalão), followed by the equally indispensable and emblematically irreversible Lava-Jato Operation. With these final words I reveal my personal view of life in general and the constitutional right of my country in particular. A view that guided my work as a Supreme Court Justice. A view of this decisive and strategic time to draw out our fate. Let none dare to dam the Amazon river of justice and keep it from cleansing the actions of wrongdoers who would defile our country’s nonnegotiable honor,” he concluded.