Currently Mr. Pinheiro is a visiting professor of international relations at Watson Institute of International Studies, Brown University, and a research associate at the Center for the Study of Violence, University of Sao Paulo, which he also founded. He was the director of the Center for the Study of Violence, NEV, USP, from 1987 to 2002.

In the UN, Mr. Pinheiro holds the position of Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar. He is a member of the Sub-Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. He has also acted as the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Burundi, and and the International Commission of Inquiry on Alleged Human Rights Violation in Togo. He was a consultant for the WHO World Report on Violence and Health 2002 and for the Human Development Report 2000 on Human Rights, UNDP 2000, and a member of the Civil Society Organizations Committee, UNDP, New York.

During the last twenty years he has been involved in many civil society organizations. He was a member of the Federal Commission on Human Rights, Brazilian Bar Association and a chair of the Human Rights Commission, Brazilian Bar Association, OAB - São Paulo. He is a member of the Justice and Peace Commission of São Paulo (founded by Cardinal Arns), the Teotonio Villela Commission on Human Rights (São Paulo), and the board of the São Paulo Institute against Violence, an association organized by major business federations in São Paulo.

Mr. Pinheiro also served as Secretary of State for Human Rights, under President Cardoso, Brazil; Special Counsel to the Governor of São Paulo State, Brazil; Rapporteur of the Brazilian National Human Rights Plan.