Class XII (2014-2015)

Sponsor Club: Campo Limpo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, District 4610

Host Club: Wishart, AUS, District 9630

Nelson is a Peace Fellow from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Before coming to UQ he worked in Haiti for one year as a United Nations Police Officer, engaged in the efforts to stabilize the country and develop the capacities of the Haitian National Police. From 2010 to 2011 he worked in East Timor, with the United Nations Integrated Mission, also in the initiative to build the capacity of the Timor National Police, helping transforming it in a professional and democratic institution. In order to acquire more knowledge and experience, Nelson went to The Hague, joining a one month training program in Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, with International Peace and Security Institute.

He also took Security Sector Reform training in Sweden, with the Folke Bernadotte Academy, to deepen his understanding of the principles and dynamics of informing institutional change in the area of democratic security. Before joining UN missions, he had worked for 14 years as a Police Manager in Sao Paulo, involved in community policing and human rights education for law enforcement agents. In the future, Nelson intends to apply the knowledge and experience acquired and refined through the Rotary Peace Fellowship in international security sector and police reform programs. He is interested in exploring the role of democratic and professional rule of law and security institutions in peacebuilding processes and impacts on nurturing peaceful communities.

For his Applied Field Experience, Nelson worked at the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. There he was involved in the preparations to the conference “R2P at 10: Progress, Challenges and Opportunities in the Asia-Pacific” aimed at deepen knowledge and advance policy on the Responsibility to Protect principle and mass atrocities prevention and response in the Asia Pacific region.