In September 2019, Pope Francis issued an invitation to discuss the way in which we are building the future of the planet and the educational changes that are required to achieve a new universal solidarity and a more welcoming society, emphasizing the role of education in this regard. A year later, he called to reconstruct the Global Education Pact, determining five thematic fields of research, asking the universities, on the one hand, to carry out scientific research work in these thematic areas, considering that they constitute the pillars of the idea of university and that research is essential for the construction of the Global Educational Village, and in turn create and strengthen networks that allow connecting with the community.

Our institutions participate and collaborate in the line "Dignity and human rights". Considering this, as a first step, we have decided to hold the First International Congress of the Global Education Pact. Reflections in times of crisis: democracy, society and nature from the perspective of human rights, whose main objective is to bring together researchers, in order to create a space to share and discuss work carried out or in progress, but also to identify specific research topics and affinity between researchers, in order to create future research groups, which can develop other initiatives together, execute them and disseminate them in the community through publications and other activities.

This Congress intends to host presentations - in English, Portuguese and Spanish - that reflect on the search process for these answers, where the role of history and memory is highlighted, since the main causes or limitations could be found in the past and that seek to carry out the analysis based on the past-present relationship of human rights, focusing on the crises, continuities and ruptures that occur at a social, cultural, political and legal level in terms of the forms of understanding and violation of human rights. Likewise, papers that explore the construction of discourses and social movements around emerging human rights, and education as an important tool for strengthening these rights and creating greater awareness about the importance of their respect, are welcome.