Brazil

Status: adopted national policy

Brazil has a policy for the protection of human rights defenders (HRDs). However, the situation of HRDs in the country remains worrying, as Brazil is one of the deadliest countries in the world for human rights defenders.

After the administration of President Bolsonaro, which worsened the governmental structures for the protection of human rights in Brazil, the election of President Lula da Silva in 2022 brought significant progress in the protection of human rights, particularly the protection of the Amazon, indigenous peoples and women’s rights. However, there are systemic human rights violations that the government has failed to address, such as the use of excessive force by the police.

Brazil has one of the oldest national policies for the protection of HRDs in the world. The first policy was introduced in 2004, in respponse to pressure from civil society and organised movements. Despite this, the number of killings and criminalisation of HRDs in the country is alarming. According to GlobalWitness, Brazil is one of the three countries with the highest number of attacks on land and environmental HRDs in the last 10 years. Indigenous and Quilomba peoples and members of other traditional communities are the defenders most at risk in Brazil. Violence against HRDs in Brazil is used to intimidate, neutralise and eliminate the individual and collective HRDs. Worryingly, impunity prevails in the majority of cases.

The National Policy for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, introduced in 2004, was approved by Decree no. 6.004/2007 in 2007 and is Brazil’s national policy for the protection of HRDs, which aims to protect HRDs, communicators and environmental defenders at risk. This policy includes a broad definition of HRDs and acknowledges the need of the recognition of the value of HRDs. According to the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship, the national policy will be restructured in 2024, and to this end it has requested the contribution of civil society organisations, which will be included in the PPDDH’s advisory body.

The national policy is complemented by the mechanism for the protection of HRDs, that was created by the same decree that established the National Policy for the Protection of HRDs in 2007. In 2019, Decree no. 9.937/2019 established the inclusion of social communicators and environmental defenders in the protection programme, which is now called the National Programme for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Social Communicators and Environmental Defenders (Programa de Proteção aos Defensores de Direitos Humanos, Comunicadores e Ambientalistas – PPDDH). This programme falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship (MDHC) and is implemented by the individual federal states. [1] Civil society organisations have a place on the board of the state programmes. Currently, there are currently 12 Brazilian states that have protection programmes for HRDs: Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. Two of the requirements for requesting protection from the PPDDH are to represent a collective and to be recognised by other institutions working for the defence of human rights.

In 2023, the government of Lula da Silva sent to Congress the Escazú Agreement, which establishes the positive obligation of each State Party to guarantee a safe and enabling environment for defenders and to recognise, protect and promote their rights. The Brazilian Congress has yet to ratify the treaty.

Despite all the legislation to protect HRDs, Brazil remains a high-risk area for HRDs due to a lack of effective implementation. The PPDDH has also been criticised for its lack of transparency, lack of civil society participation and lack of visibility among HRDs.

 The situation of HRDs in Brazil is monitored by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. The current mandate holder, Mary Lawlor, visited Brazil in April 2024. In her preliminary remarks about the official visit, she observed that “HRDs are under extreme threat in Brazil” and that the federal government has so far failed to provide them with better protection and to address the root causes of the risks they face, which she listed as demarcation and land titling. Regarding the existing National Programme for the Protection of HRDs, Lawlor warned that it needed to be radically reformed and expanded in order to achieve its objectives, and praised the start of the reform process of the PPDDH.

At the regional level, the situation of HRDs in Brazil is monitored by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and more specifically through the Rapporteurship on Human Rights Defenders and Justice Operators which analysed the situation of HRDs in Brazil’s 2021 country report.

Brazil is equally monitored through the Universal Periodic Review. The country was last reviewed in 2022. Several submissions from  stakeholders denounced a deterioration in the situation of HRDs including attacks promoted by the Executive Branch and the National Congress through speeches and public demonstrations. Many submissions noted that the programme for the protection of HRDs, Social Communicators and Environmental Defenders has seen a gradual decrease in its budget. Strengthening the effective protection of HRDs was also a recommendation echoed by several Member States. Brazil supported all these recommendations. Many questions and concerns raised with Brazil in advance regarding HRDs, in particular environmental defenders, remain unanswered.

CIVICUS rated Brazil as “obstructed”, meaning that civic space is heavily contested by power holders, who impose a combination of legal and practical constraints on the full enjoyment of fundamental rights. Freedom House Index rates Brazil as “free”. However, there are concerns about the unlawful use of physical force, police abuse and government corruption.

PI has a permanent filed presence in Brazil. You can find out more about PI’s work in the Brazil here.

[1] The government of Brazil is a federal representative democratic republic. In terms of public policy on HRDs, this means that a law is first to be introduced at the federal level, and then adopted separately by the state governments, who are responsible for implementing the law in their state.  If there is a local policy in place in a particular state, the HRD can submit the application directly to the local team. However, if the applicant is in a state that does not have its own policy, they must contact the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship directly. In this situation, the federal team will be responsible for monitoring the case.

[Updated on 04/07/2024]