FNI Director Contributes to International Webinar on Aporophobia and Hate Crimes Against the Poor

* Official banner of the event

Madrid, Spain — June 2, 2025 — The Facts and Norms Institute is pleased to report on the impactful participation of our Director, Henrique Napoleão Alves, as a featured speaker at the international webinar "Confronting aporophobia, hate crimes against the poor." 

The programme was organised by the IBA Poverty and Social Development Committee with support from the IBA Criminal Law Committee and the IBA Latin American Regional Forum.

Professor Alves – a human rights expert with extensive collaboration with the United Nations, including on the subject of extreme poverty and homelessness – shared his insights on how law can tackle discrimination rooted in poverty.

“Poverty breeds discrimination against the poor,” he noted. “Breaking the cycle demands that we confront not only individual acts of bias but also the structural barriers and root causes of poverty itself.”

He called on the legal community to:

• Promote and draft legislation and policy addressing aporophobia as a distinct human rights violation.

  
  

• Review and reform laws that directly or indirectly criminalize poverty.

  
  

• Advocate robust public policies that guarantee housing, healthcare, work, and education.

  
  

• Inform and educate society about aporophobia and how to dismantle prejudice.

* Professor Henrique Napoleão Alves during the Webinar.

The discussion explored the concept of aporophobia, examined how pioneering jurisdictions such Spain have criminalized it, and looked at ongoing efforts in other countries, inbcluding Brazil, to combat this form of discrimination.

Professor Alves joined a distinguished panel of international speakers, including:

• Marta Casilda Martínez-Almeida (Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, Madrid, Spain)

  
  

• Jean-Luc Putz (Arendt & Medernach, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg; Social Media Officer, Criminal Law Committee)

  
  

• Alberto Mata Rodriguez (CMS Albiñana Suárez de Lezo, Madrid, Spain; Member, Young Lawyers’ Committee Advisory Board)

  
  

• Maria José Aldanas (FEANTSA, Brussels, Belgium)

The session was moderated by Carmen Pombo (Fernando Pombo Foundation, Madrid, Spain).

The Facts and Norms Institute was proud to contribute to this discussion and remains dedicated to advancing solutions that address the root causes and manifestations of aporophobia.

About the Facts and Norms Institute:

The Facts and Norms Institute is an independent academic institution based in the Global South. The Institute’s mission is to promote education based on reason, justice, human rights and the pursuit of peace. The Institute has extensive collaboration with international organizations, including the United Nations Special Procedures. For more information about the Institute’s activities and projects, please visit www.factsandnorms.com