Background

Former president Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for an attempted coup, while coordinated campaigns on social media showed increased support for authoritarianism. In November, after the Supreme Federal Court ruled that the sentence was final, Bolsonaro began serving his prison term, initially under a closed regime at the headquarters of the Federal Police in the capital, Brasília. In this context, the National Congress became a source of tension, with legislative police officers expelling journalists and assaulting lawmakers during parliamentary proceedings on 9 December. However, some legislative initiatives aimed at reducing the former president’s sentence and re-examining his responsibility for the events in question moved forward, despite intense social mobilization in defence of the conviction.

Misogynist, racist and transphobic attacks were directed at women, Indigenous Peoples and transgender parliamentarians in the National Congress. This demonstrated the fragility of institutional mechanisms in the face of political violence based on gender, race or sexual orientation.

COP30, held in Belém, put the city at the centre of the global climate agenda and afforded high visibility to social actions advocating for climate justice, a just energy transition and reparations for environmental racism. The intensity of these demands contrasted starkly with the scant progress towards a just transition achieved by formal negotiations. Although the contribution of Afro-descendant populations to climate action and solutions for a just transition was recognized for the first time, the conference failed to secure a sufficient increase in funding for loss and damage, and to make clear commitments to end the use of fossil fuels.

Economic and social rights

Poverty and inequality in Brazil reduced to the lowest levels in 30 years through the consolidation of distributive policies and income-transfer programmes. Despite this, significant budgetary restrictions on policies and ministries responsible for social affairs particularly affected residents in marginal neighbourhoods or in communities peripheral urban areas.

Profound inequalities persisted in access to, retention in, and quality of, education. According to data from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey published in September, in 2024 only 50% of Afro-descendant adults had completed compulsory basic education, compared with 63.4% of white adults. A UNICEF analysis published in January revealed that at least 1.17 million Brazilian children had their schooling disrupted by extreme weather events in that same year. In addition, the Brazilian Public Security Forum reported that disruptions to education due to episodes of extreme violence – shootings, threats of attacks and police operations – had increased by around 245% between 2021 and 2023.

Access to safe drinking water remained a key challenge in several regions of the country. According to an Instituto Trata Brasil report that covered access to treated water and sanitation, the greatest needs were concentrated in the northern and north-eastern regions, where coverage of water-related services was significantly lower than in southern and south-eastern regions.

Right to a healthy environment

Environmental monitoring mechanisms were put in place and conservation policies implemented in some regions, reflecting the state’s efforts to address the climate crisis. One of the main measures was the approval of the National Civil Protection and Defence Plan to counter extreme weather events.

According to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), deforestation rates in the Amazon decreased again in 2025 and were among the lowest of the historical data series. In the Cerrado, rates also decreased for a second consecutive year. Nevertheless, deforestation continued to be prevalent in both biomes. Other ecosystems, such as Caatinga and its transition zones, continued to be under intense pressure. Serious environmental crimes and fierce and devastating wildfires were recorded, reflecting the persistence of livelihoods based on the spread of agricultural lands and environmental degradation. According to INPE and other specialized organizations, deforestation rates and the high number of wildfire outbreaks continued to threaten ecosystems critical for global climate regulation.

Climate change-related disasters disproportionately affected peripheral and vulnerable populations in all regions of the country, exacerbating existing social inequalities and fuelling recurrent forms of environmental racism, particularly against Black, Indigenous and low-income communities. Water and rainfall scarcity, landslides, storms, flooding, heatwaves and drought were all recorded. Assessments by the National Centre for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters (CEMADEN) published during the year indicated an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme events related to heavy rains and prolonged drought, with 3,620 disaster alerts and around 1,690 incidents in 2024. The World Meteorological Organization warned that global warming was intensifying extreme events around the world, while CEMADEN stated that Brazil had already entered an “age of extremes”, with an increasing risk of human, economic and social loss concentrated in historically marginalized territories.

One year after the floods in Rio Grande do Sul, the largest hydrological disaster in the state’s history, fewer than one in four of the actions included in the Rio Grande Plan, the state programme for reconstruction, adaptation and climate resilience created in 2024, had been completed. Policies prioritized the reconstruction of infrastructure, leaving vulnerable populations exposed to new extreme weather events.

Approval of the General Environmental Licensing Law (Law 15.190/2025) intensified threats to human rights, in particular the right to a healthy environment, by making licensing more flexible, exempting from licensing or simplifying procedures for potentially polluting projects, and reducing safeguards for Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities. Congress rejected 52 of the 63 presidential vetoes to the law, thereby increasing the grounds for licence exemptions, reducing deadlines for project assessments, and limiting social participation and involvement of local protection agencies.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued instructions in December for the drafting of a national roadmap to transition towards a phase-out of fossil fuels, but the government continued to authorize new projects in crucial ecosystems. At the same time, projects that facilitated mining on Indigenous lands were processed and the drilling of an exploratory oil well was authorized in the Foz do Amazonas basin, in an area known as the Equatorial Margin. Authorization to drill at the river mouth, together with the history of social and environmental damage caused by oil exploitation in Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro state), reinforced the persistence of an extractive model based on fossil fuel use. This was contrary to a just energy transition focused on human rights and contributed to the creation of “sacrifice zones” in exploited territories.

Indigenous People’s rights

During COP30, the federal government concluded the final stage of the process for officially recognizing or ratifying four Indigenous territories and issued 10 ordinances for the demarcation of new lands. A total of 20 demarcation processes were advanced.

Land invasions and acts of violence related to land conflicts and armed attacks continued in areas of rapid agribusiness expansion, particularly affecting the communities of Guaraní Kaiowá (Mato Grosso do Sul state), Avá Guaraní Paranaense (Paraná state) and Pataxó and Pataxó Hã-hã-hãe (Bahia state). Invasions, illegal land grabbing and illegal mining activity were also recorded on already demarcated Indigenous lands, especially in the Amazon region (Yanomami, Kayapó, Munduruku and Sararé territories).

Threats and attacks against leaders increased significantly. Cases of extreme violence included the murder and decapitation of Everton Lopes Rodrigues, a young Avá Guaraní Paranaense in the municipality of Guaira (Paraná state), and the murder of the Guaraní Kaiowá leader Vicente Fernandes Vilhalva during an attack by armed individuals on the recovered territory of Pyelito Kue, in the municipality of Iguatemi (Mato Grosso do Sul state). These events occurred in the context of ongoing violence resulting from the demarcation of territories in the states of Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul and Bahia, among other regions, with threats, night attacks, arson and persecution of community leaders.

In March, the federal government, the company Itaipú Binacional and the Avá Guaraní Paranaense People reached an agreement establishing reparation measures and the allocation of resources for the acquisition of land. This followed decades of human rights violations associated with the construction of a hydroelectric plant. Months later, the Brazilian state and the company issued a long-overdue apology for the violence committed. Despite this symbolic and material progress, Indigenous communities continued to denounce the inadequacy of the measures in the face of increased territorial losses and continuing invasions, threats and pressure on their lands across the country.

Quilombolas

There was partial legal recognition of the rights of Quilombola communities, with judicial decisions reaffirming the state’s obligation to advance processes of identification, demarcation and titling of their lands. In March, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned Brazil for violating the territorial rights of 171 Quilombola communities in the municipality of Alcântara (Maranhão state) and ordered the titling of approximately 78,000 hectares of land, as well as other collective reparation measures.

Despite this, Quilombola communities faced increased physical, symbolic and structural violence. The absence of effective demarcation and territorial protection policies perpetuated historical vulnerability and a lack of restorative justice. Threats against Quilombola leaders increased, often in relation to agrarian conflicts and attempts at illegal land grabbing.

Human rights defenders

The new National Plan for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders was approved, reinforcing the state’s obligation to adopt comprehensive physical, psycho-social and legal protection measures for individuals and communities at risk.

Nevertheless, attacks, threats and serious violence persisted against human rights defenders, particularly environmental defenders, Quilombolas and Indigenous and community leaders in contexts of territorial conflict. Killings, attacks, death threats and cases of criminalization were recorded. In November, Antônia Ferreira dos Santos and Marly Viana Barroso, aged 53 and 71 respectively, environmental defenders and collectors of Babassu coconut, were killed in the municipality of Novo Repartimento (Pará state) in a context of territorial disputes and defence of the traditional way of life.

In November, Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies approved the Escazú Agreement, but at year’s end it remained unratified due to delays in the Senate.

Human rights organizations accused the Pará state government of misusing the Programme for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders to carry out surveillance on Indigenous and community leaders, including members of parliament.

Legal proceedings relating to high-profile cases of violence against defenders, such as the murders of Marielle Franco, Anderson Gomes, Maria Bernadete Pacífico (known as Mother Bernadete), Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, reached different investigative and judicial stages without a final ruling. In the case of Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes, the process against the alleged instigators reached its final phase and the trial in the First Chamber of the Supreme Federal Court was scheduled for February 2026, almost eight years after the crime was committed. In the case of Mother Bernadete, the Court of Justice in Bahia also scheduled a hearing for those accused for February 2026 in the Jury Court, two years after the murder was committed.

Unlawful use of force

Police violence continued to characterize public security policy. According to the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook and organizations such as the Democracy under Threat (DX) Institute, in 2024 the police killed an average of 17 people per day, totalling more than 6,200 deaths over the year. Thus Brazil maintained its position as one of the top-ranking countries worldwide in terms of death rates from police violence.

The Brazilian Public Security Yearbook published in July indicated that the Black population continued to represent the majority of victims of police killings in absolute terms. In 2024, approximately 82% of those killed in police operations were Black, despite this demographic constituting only 55.5% of the total population.

At the institutional level, a number of legal decisions relating to the protection of the essential constitutional values against acts of public power – such as actions for breach of fundamental precept 635 (known as “ADPF das Favelas”) and 709 – reinforced the state’s responsibility for violence committed by security agents and for the protection of vulnerable population groups. However, those decisions were not implemented. In January, an operation carried out in the neighbourhoods of Alemão and Penha, in Rio de Janeiro, left dozens dead and disrupted daily life in these favelas, with reports of extrajudicial executions and ambulance access being hindered. In the city of São Paulo, deaths at the hands of on-duty military police increased in 2025 to 672 victims, with a steeper increase in the second half of the year following the adoption by police of a new model of body camera with a narrower field of view.

In May, a military police operation in the Pantanal neighbourhood of the city of Macapá (Amapá state) resulted in the deaths of seven young people returning from a football match, including a 14-year-old boy, when the vehicle they were travelling in was repeatedly shot at.

In October, Operation Containment in the Penha and Alemão favelas carried out by 2,500 civil and military agents resulted in the deaths of 121 people, including four police officers. Considered the deadliest operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro state, there were reports of extrajudicial executions, house raids, violation of crime scene preservation protocols and disproportionate use of force in a densely populated area.

Some progress was made in terms of state responsibility through convictions in a number of high-profile cases of police violence. In the city of Fortaleza, eight military police officers were sentenced to long prison terms for homicide, attempted homicide and torture committed in 2015 against residents of a number of peripheral urban neighbourhoods, in what became known as the Curio Massacre. Several agents were acquitted in a separate trial. In the case of João Pedro Matos Pinto, a 14-year-old Black boy killed inside his Rio de Janeiro home during a police operation in 2020, a judicial decision determined that the agents involved should be tried for qualified homicide before a popular jury, following their acquittal by a court in 2024. In the case of Johnatha de Oliveira Lima, a young Black man killed during a police operation in a Rio de Janeiro favela, a series of court decisions allowed the reopening of investigations. However, these examples remained exceptional: around 98% of investigations into police officers were dismissed, with fewer than 2% of deaths at the hands of the police going to trial.

LGBTI people’s rights

Progress was made in increasing visibility of LGBTI issues and in legal decisions extending recognition of LGBTI rights, with rulings by higher courts reinforcing equality in matters of filiation (family recognition), parental leave and registration of non-binary gender identities. At the same time, violence against the LGBTI population increased, with the Bahia Gay Group Observatory recording 291 violent deaths of LGBTI people in 2024 (an increase of approximately 9% compared with 2023). Furthermore, the National Association of Transvestites and Transexuals registered more than 100 murders of transgender people in the same year, meaning that Brazil remained one of the deadliest countries in the world for this population group. Investigation and accountability continued to be low in the face of hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Sexual and gender-based violence

The creation of institutional protection and accountability mechanisms for gender-based violence progressed, including a gradual increase in the number of specialized police stations, the expansion of care networks and the running of awareness campaigns, which indicated a measure of official acknowledgement of the issue’s severity. Feminicides nevertheless reached a record level, with at least 1,470 cases in 2025 or four women killed per day, a slight increase compared with 2024. In a context of persistent racial inequality, Black women remained over-represented among the victims and several successive high-profile cases prompted mass protests and calls for a stronger response from the authorities.

Sexual and reproductive rights

The National Congress moved forward with initiatives to restrict access to legal abortion. The processing of draft bill 1904/2024, which sought to equate abortion after 22 weeks of pregnancy to the crime of simple homicide, even in cases of rape, generated massive protests by feminist and human rights organizations. The bill had still not become law at year’s end.

Impunity

Despite some specific progress on accountability, reports by the UN Special Rapporteur on truth, justice and reparation pointed to the persistence of structural impunity and major barriers in access to justice, especially in cases of extrajudicial executions, torture and enforced disappearances.

Some transitional justice mechanisms continued to face legislative delays and political resistance, including attempts to restrict historical memory policies and revise the Amnesty Law, putting the collective right to truth, justice and reparation at risk.

Access to justice continued to be profoundly unequal. Data from the National Council of Justice showed that Black people and vulnerable groups continued to be over-represented among the prison population and under-represented in terms of access to adequate legal defence. This was despite initiatives such as the application of protocols for judging with a racial and human rights perspective.