Editing Human rights in Brazil

{{Short description|None}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}}
{{Politics of Brazil}}
'''Human rights in Brazil''' include the [[right to life]] and [[freedom of speech]]; and condemnation of slavery and torture. The nation ratified the [[American Convention on Human Rights]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Multilateral Treaties - AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS "PACT OF SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA" (B-32)|publisher=[[Organization of American States]]|access-date=July 11, 2017|url=http://www.oas.org/dil/treaties_B-32_American_Convention_on_Human_Rights_sign.htm}}</ref> The 2017 [[Freedom in the World]] report by [[Freedom House]] gives Brazil a score of "2" for both political rights and civil liberties; "1" represents the most free, and "7", the least.<ref>{{cite web|title=Brazil - Freedom in the World 2017|publisher=[[Freedom House]]|url=https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2017/brazil|access-date=May 4, 2021|archive-date=July 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708123231/https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2017/brazil|url-status=dead}}</ref>

However, the following human rights problems have been reported: torture of detainees and inmates by police and prison security forces; inability to protect witnesses involved in criminal cases; harsh conditions; prolonged pretrial detention and inordinate delays of trials; reluctance to prosecute as well as inefficiency in prosecuting government officials for [[Corruption in Brazil|corruption]]; violence and discrimination against women;<ref>{{cite web|title=Brazil - World - Americas|url=https://www.hrw.org/americas/brazil|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|access-date=July 11, 2017}}</ref> violence against children, including [[sexual abuse]]; human trafficking; police brutality;<ref>{{cite web|title=Brazil 2016/2017|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/americas/brazil/report-brazil|publisher=[[Amnesty International]]|access-date=July 11, 2017}}</ref> discrimination against black and [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] people;<ref name="EARTH PEOPLES">{{cite web |url=http://earthpeoples.org/blog/?p=2866 |title=ENGLISH VERSION of Human Rights Complaint Document submitted to the United Nations OHCHR by the National Indigenous Peoples Organization from Brazil (APIB) |publisher=EARTH PEOPLES |date=November 13, 2012 |access-date=November 19, 2012 |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401070014/http://earthpeoples.org/blog/?p=2866 |url-status=dead }}</ref> failure to enforce labour laws; and [[child labour]] in the [[informal sector]]. Human rights violators often enjoy impunity.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226174902/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |title=Human rights in Brazil |publisher=State.gov |date=February 25, 2009 |access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref> According to [[UNESCO]], "Brazil promotes a vast array of actions for the advancement and defense of human rights, even though it faces enormous social and economic inequalities".<ref>{{cite web|title=Human Rights in Brazil|url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/brasilia/social-and-human-sciences/human-rights|publisher=[[UNESCO]]. [[United Nations]]|access-date=July 11, 2017}}</ref>

==Slave labor and labor exploitation==
{{Main|Slavery in Brazil|Social apartheid in Brazil}}
[[File:Alberto Henschel - Homem na liteira, Bahia.jpg|thumb|right|African slaves carrying a White Brazilian man in [[Salvador, Bahia|Salvador]], 1869.]]
[[File:Trabalho.JPG|thumb|right|Barley slavery in a sugar plantation in the country.]]
Slavery is illegal in Brazil.<ref name="Kersten">{{cite web|title=A Constituição do Brasil e os Direitos Humanos|url=http://www.ambito-juridico.com.br/site/index.php?n_link=artigos_leitura_pdf&artigo_id=339|access-date=July 11, 2017|language=pt-br|first=Ignácio Mendez|last=Kersten|archive-date=February 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215051142/http://www.ambito-juridico.com.br/site/index.php?n_link=artigos_leitura_pdf&artigo_id=339|url-status=dead}}</ref> Slavery and labor situations like depression era company towns still exist in remote areas in Brazil like the Amazon (a fictional portrayal of such a town occurs in ''[[The Rundown]]''). "Debt slavery" (where workers are forced to work to pay an ever-increasing debt) still exists in some rural areas, though it is illegal and the government actively fights against it.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6266712.stm |title=BBC news, major raid in slave farm |publisher=BBC News |date=July 3, 2007 |access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref> The "debt slavery" is particularly worrying in large [[sugar cane]] farms, since sugar cane is a raw material for [[Ethanol fuel in Brazil|ethanol]], a product that the Brazilian government is currently actively encouraging the production and research of.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

In 2014, Brazil is still classified in a [[United States Department of Labor|U.S. Department of Labor]] report as one of the 74 countries that still employ children and slave laborers within the informal working sector. A ''[[List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor]]'' issued within the report shows 16 products including [[cotton]], cashews, [[pineapple]]s, rice and [[sugarcane]]<ref>[http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods/ List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor]</ref> corresponding to the country of Brazil.

Human rights abuse isn't limited to just the local population but to foreign domestic workers as well. In 2017, a [[Philippines]] national was found in conditions of [[Modern slavery]] working for a Brazilian family.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-41857444|title=The housemaid's tale: 'I ate dog food to survive'|last=Bachega|first=Hugo|date=2017-12-11|work=BBC News|access-date=2017-12-11|language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Domestic violence ==
{{Main|Domestic violence in Brazil}}
{{See also|Outline of domestic violence}}
[[File:MariaDaPenha.jpg|thumb|right|Maria da Penha celebrating the two years of [[Lei Maria da Penha|Maria da Penha Law]] in [[Brasília]].]]
[[File:Balanço do primeiro ano da Campanha Proteja Nossas Crianças.jpg|thumb|right|The governor of [[Minas Gerais]], [[Aécio Neves]], during the Campaign Protect Our Children.]]
On August 7, 2006, Brazilian President [[Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva]] signed [[Lei Maria da Penha|a law on domestic and family violence against women]] in Brasília.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=503 |title=Maria da Penha Law |publisher=Unifem.org |access-date=October 21, 2010 |archive-date=December 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220151025/http://unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=503 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Ethnic minorities==
{{Main|Ethnic groups in Brazil|List of endangered languages in Brazil}}
[[File:Protesto contra o sistema de cotas.jpg|thumb|right|Protest against university [[Racial quota|quota]]s for Afro-descendants in Brasília. The large poster says: "Wanna get into college? Pass the test!"]]
Although the law prohibits [[racial discrimination]], darker-skinned citizens, particularly [[Afro-Brazilian]]s, frequently encountered discrimination. The law specifically prohibits denial of public or private facilities, employment, or housing to anyone based on race. The law also prohibits, and provides jail terms for, the incitement of racial discrimination or prejudice and the dissemination of racially offensive symbols and epithets. Afro-Brazilians, representing almost 7% of the population, were significantly underrepresented in the government, professional positions, and the middle and upper classes. They experienced a higher rate of unemployment and earned average wages approximately half those of a white person. There was also a sizeable racial education gap. In February in a government report to the UN, SEDH acknowledged the existence of racism in the country but stated that the government took and was taking affirmative actions to reduce it, including [[University and college admissions|university admission]] [[Racial quota|quotas]] for [[Afro-Brazilian|Afro-descendants]].

Major public universities in the Federal District and the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Bahia, and others maintained affirmative action programs. For instance, the University of Brasília set aside 25 percent of its first-year 2007 vacancies for self-declared students of color. According to a study from Rio de Janeiro Federal University released in January, approximately half of the public federal and state universities had a quota system or an exam bonus.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226174902/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |title=Quotas for Afro-brazilians |publisher=State.gov |date=February 25, 2009 |access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref>

The law grants the [[Indigenous peoples in Brazil|indigenous population]] broad rights, including the protection of their cultural [[National patrimony|patrimony]] and the exclusive use of their traditional lands. Although many problems existed, the government made limited progress in securing these rights. The [[Fundação Nacional do Índio|National Indigenous Foundation]] (FUNAI) estimated that there were 460,000 indigenous persons in 225 societies on indigenous lands and an additional 100,000 to 190,000 indigenous persons living outside these areas, including in urban environments. According to the Ministry of Education, 20 state and federal universities continued to reserve entrance slots for indigenous persons. The number of [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] university students, almost 5,000 or approximately 1 percent of total university students, remained unchanged.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226174902/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |title=Indigenous situation in Brazil |publisher=State.gov |date=February 25, 2009 |access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref>

==Women's rights==
{{Main|Women in Brazil|Women's rights in Brazil}}
[[File:Nilcéia Freire.JPG|thumb|right|[[Nilcéa Freire]], Special Secretariat of Policies for Women]]

Women have the same legal rights as men. A cabinet-level office, the Secretariat for Women's Policy, oversees a special entity charged with ensuring the legal rights of women. Although the law prohibits discrimination based on gender in employment and wages, there were significant wage disparities between men and women. According to the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE), women were often paid less than men in the same functions.

The law provides 120 days of paid maternity leave to women and seven days of [[paternity leave]] to men. The law also prohibits employers from requiring applicants or employees to take pregnancy tests or present [[Human sterilization (surgical procedure)|sterilization]] certificates, but some employers sought sterilization certificates from female job applicants or tried to avoid hiring women of childbearing age. Violations of the law are punishable by jail terms of up to two years for [[employer]]s, while the company may be fined 10 times the salary of its highest-paid employee.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}

Prostitution is legal, but exploiting it through associated activities, such as operating a brothel, is illegal. While no specific laws address sex tourism, it is punishable under other criminal offenses, and there was a government-released "code of conduct to combat sex tourism and sexual exploitation" and government-conducted campaigns in the most affected areas.

The Federal District and the states of [[Pernambuco]], [[Espírito Santo]], [[Amazonas (Brazilian state)|Amazonas]], and [[Paraná (state)|Paraná]] enacted laws requiring certain businesses to display signs listing the penalties for having sexual intercourse with a [[minor (law)|minor]]. [[Rio de Janeiro (state)|Rio de Janeiro]] and [[Bahia]] states had similar [[legislation]]. Women's groups reported that prostitutes encountered discrimination when seeking free medical care. [[Trafficking of women]] for the purpose of prostitution was a serious problem.

Each state secretariat for public security operated "[[delegacias da mulher]]" (DEAMs), police stations dedicated exclusively to addressing crimes against women, for a total of 415 countrywide. The quality of services varied widely, and availability was particularly limited in isolated areas. For example, the North and Northeast regions, which contained approximately 35 percent of the country's population, possessed only 24 percent of the country's DEAMs.

The stations provided psychological counseling, temporary shelter, and [[hospital]] treatment for victims of domestic violence and rape (including treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases) as well as criminal prosecution assistance by investigating and forwarding evidence to courts. There were also 123 [[reference]] centers and 66 women's shelters.

In Rio de Janeiro, the city's Rio Women Program provided assistance to [[female]] victims of domestic violence who received death threats. When necessary, victims were sent to specific shelters, which also provided psychological and legal aid. In addition to the Women Program, victims of domestic violence could obtain assistance at the Center for Women's Support, an initiative of the Rio de Janeiro state government that offered a complaint hot line, shelters, and psychological and legal aid.

The law requires [[health]] [[medical facility|facilities]] to contact the police regarding cases in which a woman was harmed physically, sexually, or psychologically in order to collect evidence and statements should the victim decide to prosecute. [[Sexual harassment]] is a criminal offense, punishable by up to two years in prison. The law encompasses sexual advances in the workplace or in educational institutions and between service providers or clients.

In the [[wiktionary:Workplace|workplace]] it applies only in [[hierarchical]] situations, where the harasser is of higher rank or position than the victim. Although the law was enforced, accusations were rare, and the extent of the problem was not documented.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226174902/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |title=Women rights in Brazil |publisher=State.gov |date=February 25, 2009 |access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref>

==Prisoner violence==
{{Main|Carandiru massacre|Candelária massacre}}

The Brazilian prison system has been considered insolvent for a long time.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} Prisons are overcrowded and unhealthy, and [[prison rape]] is not uncommon. There are over 400,000 inmates in the system. Beatings, torture and killings by prison guards occur throughout the system. Children are abused in the juvenile justice system.<ref name=AI>{{cite web |url=http://thereport.amnesty.org/en/regions/americas/brazil |title=Amnesty International report on Brazil |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610063340/http://thereport.amnesty.org/en/regions/americas/brazil |archive-date=2009-06-10}}</ref> According to the Ministry of Justice, 13,489 teenagers are in detention. [[Prison overcrowding in Brazil|Prison overcrowding]] results in a prominent occurrence of prison violence and murder as well as frequent revolts and escapes. To deal with these problems, prison administrations often divide prison populations according to gang affiliation. According to Global Justice, there have been claims of gang affiliation being assigned. Living space, food, and human cleanliness conditions are inhumane and [[bribery]] for privileges and transfers is rampant. In December 2007, a case of [[prison rape|prison]] [[gang rape]] in [[Pará]] brought media attention to the condition of human rights in the Brazil prison system.<ref>{{cite news|first=Alexei |last=Barrionuevo |title=Rape of Girl, 15, Exposes Abuses in Brazil Prison System |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/world/americas/12brazil.html?ref=americas |work=The New York Times |date=December 12, 2007 |access-date=December 13, 2007 }}</ref> Other cases, like of the beating of two young suspects by two military police officers from the 4th Battalion in the city of [[Picos]], [[Piauí]], have also made the headlines.<ref name=AI/>

Prison conditions throughout the country often range from poor to extremely harsh and life-threatening. Abuse by prison guards, poor medical care, and severe overcrowding occurred at many facilities. Prison officials often resorted to brutal treatment of prisoners, including torture, harsh or dangerous working conditions, official negligence, poor sanitary conditions, abuse and mistreatment by guards, and a lack of medical care led to a number of deaths in prisons. Poor working conditions and low pay for prison guards encouraged widespread corruption. Prisoners who committed petty crimes were held with murderers. According to the National Penitentiary Department, in June there were 392,279 prisoners incarcerated, 40 percent more than the system's design capacity, and the number increased approximately 3,000 per month. During the year 135 prisoners were involved in riots from January to June in federal prisons. There were several official complaints of overcrowding in Goiás, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Minas Gerais states.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226174902/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |title=The situation of Brazilian prisons and human rights |publisher=State.gov |date=February 25, 2009 |access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref>

==Summary executions and police violence==
{{anchor|EJK}}{{main|Crime in Brazil|Law enforcement in Brazil}}
[[File:Abordagem prf1.jpg|thumb|right|Police approach civil population in the brazilian [[Federal District (Brazil)|Federal District]].]]
Police violence is one of the most internationally recognized human rights abuses in Brazil. The problem of urban violence focuses on the perpetual struggle between police and residents of high crime [[favela]]s such as the areas portrayed in the film ''[[City of God (2002 film)|City of God]]'' and mainly ''[[Elite Squad]]''.

Police response in many parts of Brazil is extremely violent, including [[summary execution]] and torture of suspects.  According to [[Global Justice (organization)|Global Justice]], in 2003, the police killed 1,195 people in the State of [[Rio de Janeiro]] alone. In the same year 45 police officers were killed. It is often reacted to by local communities and trafficking groups with demonstrations and violent resistance, causing escalation and multiplying victims.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} Unofficial estimates show there are over 3,000 deaths annually from police violence in Brazil, according to Human Rights Watch. There are constant complaints of [[racism]], [[abuse]]s, [[torture]], executions and [[forced disappearance|disappearances]]. Not all states record police killings or keep accurate statistics.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}

Reports of killings by Rio de Janeiro police decreased during the year under a new state security strategy. Statistics released by the [[Rio de Janeiro State]] Secretariat for [[Public Security]] showed 911 [[person]]s killed as a result of police confrontations from January through September, a 12 percent decrease over the same period in 2007. The Rio de Janeiro Institute for Public Security reported that police killed an average of four persons per day during 2007. According to a UN report released in September, police clashes resulted in 1,260 civilian deaths in Rio de Janeiro State in 2007. Most of these killings occurred during "[[Resistance movement|acts of resistance]]," the UN report commented. The [[São Paulo State]] Secretariat for [[Public Security]] reported that São Paulo state police (civil and military) killed 340 [[civilians]] in the state from January to September, compared with 315 during the same period in 2007. Cases involving extrajudicial executions were either under police investigation or before the state courts; observers believed that it could take years to resolve such cases.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}

There were no [[report]]s of politically motivated disappearances. However, the Center of Studies of Security and Citizenship estimated that in 2006 approximately 1,940 [[person]]s "[[forced disappearance|disappeared]]"; the center believed many were killed by police. There were no developments in the disappearance cases that occurred during the 1964-85 [[military dictatorship]], and 400 cases remained for the [[Amnesty]] Commission to analyze. There were also no developments regarding the 2007 Chamber of Deputies' Human Rights Committee request that the government seize documents to determine the circumstances of military regime political prisoner deaths and the locations of their remains.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226174902/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |title=Police violence and Human rights |publisher=State.gov |date=February 25, 2009 |access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref>

==Torture==
{{Main|Torture in Brazil|Tortura Nunca Mais|Capital punishment in Brazil}}
[[Image:Poll Death penalty Brazil.JPG|thumb|350px|Opinion polls about [[death penalty]] in Brazil since 1991:
{{legend|#4F81C6|Favourable|#696969}} {{legend|#C44E4C|Against|#696969}}{{legend|#9FB85D|Undefined|#696969}}
Source: Datafolha institute.]]
Brazil's 21-year military dictatorship, ushered in with a U.S.-backed coup in 1964, tortured thousands of Brazilian citizens—anyone even suspected of opposing the authoritarian regime. As of 1988, torture is illegal in Brazil.<ref name="Kersten"/> However, the nation still suffers from state-sanctioned brutality today, including the torture of those incarcerated.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Macaulay|first1=Fiona|title=Brazil: Never Again?|journal=History Workshop Journal|date=2011|volume=72|issue=1|pages=275–82|doi=10.1093/hwj/dbr051|s2cid=153427610}}</ref> Perhaps then it is not surprising that [[torture]] in Brazil is widespread and systematic, according to the ex-[[UN Special Rapporteur]].{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} Occurrence of police torture accompanies murder or effecting intimidation and [[extortion]]. Torture has also been widely reported{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} in detention centers and [[mental institution]]s. Although the constitution prohibits torture and provides severe [[legal]] penalties for its use, torture by police and [[prison guard]]s remained a serious and widespread problem. In February{{Year missing|date=January 2011}} the government's National Human Rights Secretariat (SEDH) acknowledged that torture existed in the country and related the problem to societal tolerance and the fear of [[revenge|retaliation]].

Federal, state, and military police often enjoyed [[impunity]] in cases of torture, as in other cases of abuse. During the year an additional state (for a total of 13 of 26) adopted the National Plan for the Prevention and Control of Torture, which includes the installation of cameras in prisons and penitentiaries, taping of [[interrogation]]s, and reversal of the presumption of innocence for those accused of torture.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}

During the first half of the year, {{Which|date=January 2011}} the [[São Paulo]] State Ombudsman's Office received five complaints of torture by police, compared with seven during the same period of 2007. Police continued to abuse [[transvestite]] [[prostitutes]] in [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Belo Horizonte]], and [[salvador, Bahia|Salvador]], according to the {{ill|Gay Group of Bahia|ar|مجموعة المثليين في باهيا|ast|Grupu Gai de Bahia|es|Grupo Gay de Bahía|fr|Grupo Gay da Bahia|it|Grupo Gay da Bahia|pt|Grupo Gay da Bahia}}. Police routinely investigated such allegations, which rarely resulted in punishment (see section 5 Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination). In [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazilian police militias|militia]] members reportedly continued to use physical abuse, degrading treatment, and torture to spread fear and establish control over [[favela]] residents. While militia members, many of them off-duty and former law enforcement officers, often began by taking community policing into their own hands, many intimidated residents and conducted other illegal activity. In May [[militia]] members reportedly kidnapped, tortured, and released two ''O Dia'' newspaper investigative journalists in Rio de Janeiro's Batan favela, when they were discovered living there undercover to investigate militias.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}

The Rio de Janeiro military [[police officer]], who publicly defended the use of torture in 2007 and was subsequently transferred, was assigned command of the 38th Military Police Battalion in Três Rios. The nine police officers, including the police chief of [[Osasco]], São Paulo, charged in 2007 with theft, torture, extortion, beating, and threatening to rape to extort money, remained free and continued to await a trial that at year's end was not scheduled. In October 2007 the [[Inter-American Commission on Human Rights]] (IACHR) adopted several findings in a case originated in 1998, that authorities had violated the rights of [[Antonio Ferreira Braga]] by illegally arresting and torturing him in 1993 in [[Ceará]] State, and that the government had failed to prevent and punish said acts, and also made four recommendations. After various exchanges the IACHR announced on July 18 that the government had fulfilled one recommendation (training police on humane treatment), but not two others (investigation and punishment of those responsible, compensation of the victim), and that one remained pending (investigation of possible negligence of authorities).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226174902/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |title=Torture in Brazil |publisher=State.gov |date=February 25, 2009 |access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref>

==Agrarian violence and oppression==
{{Main|Landless Workers' Movement}}
[[File:MST International Socialist46623.jpeg|thumb|right|Children's celebrating the twenty years of Landless Workers' Movement, in the city of [[Itapeva, São Paulo|Itapeva]].]]
The agrarian struggle in Brazil is manifold, touching on the topics of deforestation, [[dam]] building, eviction, [[Squatting in Brazil|squatting]], and wildlife smuggling. The enormous [[Landless Workers' Movement]] in Brazil involves large and migrating landless populations. Landowners resort [[policemen]] to drive and intimidate landless populations from their properties.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Refugees|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|title=Refworld {{!}} 2016 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Brazil|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ec8a6613.html|access-date=2020-10-07|website=Refworld|language=en|quote=Paramilitary forces acting on instructions of wealthy land owners allegedly carried out the attack as a reprisal against the indigenous community for seeking recognition of their land rights.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hammond|first=John L.|date=2009|title=Land Occupations, Violence, and the Politics of Agrarian Reform in Brazil|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20684662|journal=Latin American Perspectives|volume=36|issue=4|pages=156–177|doi=10.1177/0094582X09338589|jstor=20684662|s2cid=154398518|issn=0094-582X|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Other cases of agrarian human rights violations involve invasion of properties and taking landowners as hostages, in order to force the government to provide land for the Landless Worker's Movement. Further agrarian violence arises from smugglers of exotic animals, wood, and other minerals from extracting contraband from forest or agrarian areas.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} In Brazil, the [[Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra]] (MST) has 1.5 million people in the group.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Brazil's Landless Workers Rise Up|url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/brazils-landless-workers-rise-mst-land-occupation|access-date=2020-10-07|website=Dissent Magazine}}</ref>

==Indigenous violence==
{{Main|Indigenous peoples in Brazil}}
[[File:BR-174 Sul.jpg|thumb|right|Indigenous Reserve in the State of [[Roraima]].]]
As [[deforestation]] companies move in to take advantage of the large area of space the [[Amazon Rainforest|Amazon]] offers, [[indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous]] tribes that live in the forest are subject to violence. To protect their land, many indigenous people attack the new arrivals, who fight back, leading to violence and deaths.

The law provides indigenous persons with exclusive beneficial use of the soil, waters, and minerals on indigenous lands, but Congress must approve each case. The government administers the lands but must consider the views of affected communities regarding their development or use, and communities have the right to profit from such use. However, indigenous leaders and activists complained that indigenous peoples had only limited participation in decisions taken by the government affecting their land, cultures, traditions, and allocation of national resources.

It is also criticized the government for devoting insufficient resources to health care, other basic services, and protection of indigenous reserves from outsiders. Non-indigenous people who illegally exploited indigenous lands for mining, logging, and agriculture often destroyed the environment and wildlife and caused violent confrontations. [[Fundação Nacional do Índio]], which acknowledged insufficient resources to protect indigenous lands from encroachment, depended on the understaffed and poorly equipped [[Federal Police]] for [[Law enforcement agency|law enforcement]] on indigenous lands.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226174902/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |title=Indigenous rights in Brazil |publisher=State.gov |date=February 25, 2009 |access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref> November 13, 2012, the national indigenous peoples association from Brazil APIB submitted to the United Nation a human rights  document that complaints about new proposed laws in Brazil that would further undermine their rights if approved.<ref name="EARTH PEOPLES"/> A report about violence towards [[Afro-Brazilians]] and [[Indigenous Brazilians]] was released by the Brazilian government on May 5, 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/26/brazil-analyzing-violence-against-amazons-residents|title= Brazil Analyzing Violence Against the Amazon's Residents |access-date=26 May 2020|website=HumanRightsWatch|date= May 26, 2020 }}</ref>

{{Excerpt|Yanomami humanitarian crisis}}

==Refugees==
{{Main|Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees}}
[[File:Mesquita mogidascruzes.jpg|thumb|right|Mosque founded by [[Islamic]] [[refugees]] in the city of [[Mogi das Cruzes]].]]
The law provides for the granting of asylum or [[refugee]] [[Legal status|status]] in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 [[Protocol (politics)|protocol]], and the government has established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice the government provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened.

The government provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention and the 1967 protocol. The government cooperated with the Office of the [[UN High Commissioner for Refugees]] (UNHCR) and other [[humanitarian]] [[organization]]s in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.

The UNHCR estimated that approximately 600 persons fled to the country from the September conflict in [[Pando, Bolivia]], and 70 requested asylum. According to the [[Nation]]al [[Committee]] for [[Refugees]], at the end of the year there were 3,918 recognized refugees in the country. During the year authorities granted refugee status to 226 [[individual]]s. Those who maintain their status, which is reviewed every two years, may receive [[identity document|identity]] and travel [[document]]s and work and study in the country.

From 1998 to 2008, 4,515 [[person]]s sought asylum, according to news reports. There were, in addition to officially recognized refugees, approximately 17,500 de facto [[Colombian people|Colombian]] [[refugees]] in the country's [[Northern Brazil|Amazon region]], according to the 2008 World [[Refugee]] [[Statistical survey|Survey]]. Many asylum seekers did not have government support because of the poor infrastructure in the region. Relations with local communities were increasingly difficult because of pressures on the educational and health systems.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226174902/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |title=Refugees in Brazil |publisher=State.gov |date=February 25, 2009 |access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref>

== Violence against human rights defenders ==
Many [[human rights defender]]s who have arisen to oppose human rights violations  and their families and friends suffer violence and persecution across Brazil. Telephone death threats are prominent and often followed through by ambush or assassination.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Government officials, attorneys, union leaders and even religious leaders have often been targeted, as with [[Antonio Fernandez Saenz]] affair. The danger of human rights defense entered the world press with the murder of [[Dorothy Stang]] in 2005, and [[Chico Mendes]] in 1988.<ref>Sources: Human Rights Watch, Global Justice, Pastoral Land Commission</ref>

On 11 April 2022, the [[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]](OHCHR) issued a statement condemning the restrictions on Brazilians’ rights to full and active social and political participation, and the appalling levels of violence directed against human rights defenders, women journalists, indigenous peoples and traditional communities in particular of African-descent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/04/brazil-un-expert-decries-erosion-democracy-urges-safe-space-civil-society|title=Brazil: UN expert decries erosion of democracy, urges safe space for civil society|accessdate=11 April 2022|website=OHCHR}}</ref>

==LGBT rights==
{{Main|LGBT rights in Brazil}}
[[File:Protesto_contra_Homofobia_Parque_Bras%C3%ADlia.jpg|thumb|right|Anti-[[discrimination]] protest in Brasília.]]
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Brazil enjoy many of the same legal protections available to non-LGBT people, with LGBT people having marriage rights available nationwide since May 2013.<ref name="edition.cnn.com">{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/15/world/americas/brazil-same-sex-marriage/index.html?eref=edition|title=Brazilian judicial council orders notaries to recognize same-sex marriage|first=Marilia|last=Brocchetto|date=May 15, 2013|work=CNN|access-date=July 11, 2017}}</ref> It is allowed for [[same-sex couple]]s to marry, and have the same legal rights as married heterosexuals.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13304442|title=Brazil Supreme Court awards gay couples new rights|work=BBC News |date=May 6, 2011 |access-date=July 11, 2017}}</ref>

The [[São Paulo Gay Pride Parade]] is the world's largest [[LGBT pride]] celebration, with 4 million people in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://saopaulo.gaypridebrazil.org|title=São Paulo Gay Parade|access-date=July 11, 2017}}</ref> Brazil had more than 60,000 same-sex couples in 2010 ([[Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics|IBGE]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cenag.uol.com.br/noticias_ler.php?id=NTQxNg==|title=Censo mostra que o Brasil tem 60 mil casais gay com união estável|access-date=July 11, 2017|language=pt-br|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315032759/http://cenag.uol.com.br/noticias_ler.php?id=NTQxNg==|archive-date=March 15, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> The country also has 300 active [[LGBT organization]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.athosgls.com.br/noticias_visualiza.php?contcod=30022|title=Parada gay de Curitiba com cunho político|access-date=July 11, 2017|language=pt-br|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715125214/http://www.athosgls.com.br/noticias_visualiza.php?contcod=30022|archive-date=July 15, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Prejudice]] against LGBT groups has also decreased according to data from a survey of Ibope, Brazil's institute for statistics and public opinion. 60% of Brazilians consider homosexuality natural.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.athosgls.com.br/noticias_visualiza.php?contcod=29307|title=Jovens se mobilizam contra homofobia|access-date=July 11, 2017|language=pt-br|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715125316/http://www.athosgls.com.br/noticias_visualiza.php?contcod=29307|archive-date=July 15, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, violence and prejudice remains, and Brazil is one of the countries where the most gay people are killed. According to the report "Epidemic of Hate", published in 1996 by the [[International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission]], at least 1,200 gays, lesbians and transsexuals were killed in Brazil in a decade.

==See also==
{{Portal|Brazil}}
* [[Anti-discrimination laws in Brazil]]
* [[Social apartheid in Brazil]]
* [[Women's rights in Brazil]]
* [[Heráclito Fontoura Sobral Pinto]]
* [[Candelária massacre]] (1993)
* [[Carandiru massacre]] (1992)
* [[Complexo do Alemão massacre]] (2007)
* [[Police brutality in Brazil]]
* [[Brazilian Military Criminal Code]]

==References==
{{US DOS|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119150.htm|title=2008 Human Rights Report: Brazil}}
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading & external links==
* Zimbardo, et al. ''Violence Workers''
* [[France Winddance Twine]] "Racism in a Racial Democracy"
* [http://hub.witness.org/en/BoundByPromises Hub.witness.org], "Bound by Promises", video co-produced by Witness and Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT) about slave labor.
* [https://www.un.org/webcast/unhrc/archive.asp?go=080411 UN.org], "Review of Brazil" by the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]]'s [[United Nations Human Rights Council#Universal Periodic Review Working Group|Universal Periodic Review]], April 11, 2008

{{Brazil topics}}
{{South America topic|Human rights in}}
{{World topic | prefix=Extrajudicial killings in | title= [[Extrajudicial killing]] by country | noredlinks=yes }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Human Rights in Brazil}}
[[Category:Human rights in Brazil| ]]
[[Category:Human rights by country|Brazil]]
[[Category:Government of Brazil]]