Human rights activists in Brazil were attacked 1,171 times 2019–22
A report compiled by NGOs Terra de Direitos and Justiça Global found 1,171 cases of violence against human rights advocates in Brazil from 2019 to 2022. Released Wednesday (Jun. 14), the document casts light on incidents including threats, physical aggression, murder, assault, sexual harassment, slander, injury, defamation, racist and homophobic attacks, institutional and judicial violence, and suicide in the context of rights violations.
Entitled Na Linha de Frente: violações contra quem defende direitos humanos (“On the Front Line: Violations Against Human Rights Defenders”), the survey is now in its fourth edition. The first three mapped the periods of 1997–2001, 2002–2005, and 2006–2012. This time, the range encompasses the years of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration.
The study indicates that Bolsonaro’s government was an active driver behind attacks on human rights, instigating violence in addresses as well as political measures, including moves facilitating access to guns. It also shows that the deterioration and undermining of government structures aimed at the protection of rights made hostility against historically marginalized groups all the more severe.
“Those were four years of attacks and hostilities targeting human rights defenders. […] Since 2012, data have been collected by international organizations, […] but we understand the need to carry out such an assessment from inside Brazil,” said Alane Silva, legal adviser with Terra de Direitos and one of the research coordinators. Taking underreporting into account, she argued, the number of incidents in the period is probably much higher.
Most of the activists victimized work in support of the homeless, riverside communities, indigenous people, quilombos (communities founded by black people fleeing slavery), children, women targeted by domestic violence, and immigrants, as well as people subjected to racial- and gender-based discrimination, degrading working conditions, armed violence, and violations perpetrated by state security forces.
All 27 Brazilian states were mapped. Atop the list is Pará, in the North, with 143 cases. Next come Maranhão (131), Bahia (109), and Pernambuco (100). Almost half (47%) took place in the Amazon. Also striking was that the cases in the North and the Northeast make up 63.9 percent of the total.
Threats and murders
A total of 169 murders were documented in the time span—an average of three human rights defenders killed each month. In at least 63.3 percent of the cases, firearms were used.
The report draws attention to the fact that many victims are threatened before they are murdered, adding that such threats are rarely brought under investigation. The recent murders of indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and UK journalist Dom Phillips were also mentioned. They fell victims to an ambush in Javari Valley region, in the Amazon, just over a year ago. “This is a case in point. Before being killed, [Pereira] faced threats,” the text notes.
Also discussed are difficulties in registering occurrences through police institutions. “The crime of threat, described in Article 147 of Brazil’s Criminal Code, is considered a minor offense. As a result, it fails to draw the attention of law enforcement authorities. Years later, these recurrent threats often precede a homicide.”
In the countryside
Of the 1,171 cases of violence against human rights defenders, 919 were against people active in the fight for land and the environment, 78.5 percent of all episodes. In 4.8 percent, victims were LGBTQI+ rights supporters. In 3.7 percent, violence was directed at defenders of housing rights and the right to the city.
In addition, of the 169 individuals murdered between 2019 and 2022, 140 were involved in the struggle for the right to land. The data raise the same concerns as those expressed in a recent survey by the international organization Global Witness: of the 227 murders of land and environmental champions around the world in 2020, 20 were in Brazil. The country’s numbers are only outweighed by Colombia, Mexico, and the Philippines.
The report points out that rights enshrined in the Constitution and in international treaties were violated through law amendments and efforts to undermine institutions. “Violence begins with the mechanisms brought into motion by the very government in a bid to destroy public policies. This happens when environmental legislation is changed, and the granting of ownership deeds for quilombola and indigenous territories and land reform are halted. This is how violence became legitimized,” Silva said.
Perpetrators
The figures also outline the profile of the most common offenders. At least 32.7 percent of the incidents involved private agents: companies, loggers, farmers, and militia members. Another 22.9 percent were formed by public agents, like police, politicians, agency representatives, public officials, and authorities in the country’s justice system. Information is unavailable in 44.4 percent.
Protection
The publication stresses the urgency to expand policies aimed at enforcing the rights to land, housing, health care, and education, Silva pointed out. The report, she went on, also reiterates the need to review and strengthen the country’s Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Communicators, and Environmentalists, as demanded by 45 entities and social movements throughout Brazil, among them Terra de Direitos and Justiça Global.
The Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship has showed willingness to address their demands, but a delay in bringing plans into action has been met with dissatisfaction among entity representatives.
