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This paper is about the laws and decrees edited by the Brazilian government and in the São Paulo State in the last nine years, focused on the standardization of educational language policies for deaf students. These laws and decrees resulted from international conventions promulgated by the UN and/or from recommendations provided by the International Disability Alliance (IDA). In this direction, the article analyzes the practices of the National Federation of Deaf People and the IDA to ensure both the compliance of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the interpretation of these terms, which does not legitimize the practices of linguistic assimilation of deaf people. In order to discuss the normalizing character that the laws and decrees bring along, the concept of biopower, as postulated by Michel Foucault, is revisited. In this article, the authors discuss the effects of ambiguities present in these laws for the training of teachers. The authors suggest that these laws and decrees, in particular the Convention of the Right of Persons with Disabilities are, in their terms, neither an advance, nor a return to the same point. The speeches focused on the human rights constitute an active field of struggles between a specific form of state regulation by the action of the biopower and an active practice of those who want to create fissures within this logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Race and gender inequalities in Brazil are analyzed in light of international human fights law and standards. The demographic category "blacks" or "African descendants" is new and still controversial in Brazil; it conflicts with the traditional "racial democracy" ideology by grouping together dark-skinned and light-skinned blacks, but official research institutions increasingly employ this methodology. Statistical economic and demographic analysis demonstrates that African descendants' human rights, particularly those of black women, are violated daily in Brazil. Analysis is made of compliance with international standards for the rights to life (life expectancy, mortality rates, quality of life), physical and mental health, work with dignity and equal opportunity, ongoing improvement of living conditions, and protection in childhood. Brazilian society is traditionally authoritarian and inequality is taken for granted. Meaningful economic and social change must address the specific issues of race discrimination and its legacy, which implies deep structural changes in Brazilian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]