shootings, which left nine people dead. All the perpetrators were male; most victims were female. UNLAWFUL USE OF FORCE Police violence, unlawful killings, and arbitrary detentions persisted. Due to systemic racism, Black people were disproportionately affected. Between July and September, at least 394 people were killed in police operations in the states of Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. Despite the extent of the crisis, the executive secretary of the Ministry of Justice, and Public Security, referring to Bahia, reportedly commented: “You don’t fight organized crime with a rifle with roses.” A 2019 Federal Supreme Court ruling that introduced measures to reduce police violence continued to be disregarded. Heavily armed police operations oriented towards the “war on drugs” in favelas and marginalized neighbourhoods resulted in intense shootouts, unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions, unlawful entry into and destruction of property, torture and other illtreatment, restrictions on freedom of movement, enforced disappearances, and the suspension of essential services such as schools and health clinics. In October, more than 120,000 residents of the favela Complexo da Maré in Rio de Janeiro city were impacted by six days of police operations. During this period, more than 17,000 students did not have access to school and more than 3,000 medical service appointments were suspended. In Baixada Santista region in São Paulo state, a police operation launched on 28 July in response to the death of a police officer resulted in the arrest of 958 people and 30 deaths and unlawful raids. Amnesty International, in partnership with the National Council for Human Rights, documented 11 cases of serious human rights violations perpetrated by state agents, including extrajudicial executions, unlawful entry of homes, and torture and other ill-treatment. In the state of Rio de Janeiro, a police operation in the neighbourhood of Vila Cruzeiro on 2 106 August resulted in 10 deaths and four injuries. Police intervention continued to cause the deaths of children and adolescents. On 7 August, Thiago Menezes, 13 years old, was unlawfully killed by police while riding a motorcycle. On 4 September, the Rio de Janeiro state court ordered the preventive detention of four police officers involved in the killing. On 12 August, five-year-old Eloah Passos was hit by a stray bullet while playing inside her home. On 16 August, three-yearold Heloísa Santos died after being shot by a police officer while in a car with her family. IMPUNITY The unlawful use of force by police continued not to be investigated promptly or effectively. The enforced disappearance in 2014 of 16year-old Davi Fiuza during a police raid in the city of Salvador, in Bahia state, remained unsolved. Three police officers indicted for the murder of activist Pedro Henrique Cruz in 2018 in Tucano, Bahia, had still not been brought to trial and his mother, Ana Maria, continued to suffer threats and intimidation. On 26 September, the Rio de Janeiro State Public Prosecutor’s Office reopened the investigation into the murder of 10-year-old Eduardo de Jesus, who was shot dead by military police in Complexo do Alemão, Rio de Janeiro city, in 2015 while playing outside his home. Three police officers were indicted for the murder of 14-year-old João Pedro in 2020 while playing inside his house. At the end of 2023, they had still not been brought to trial and continued to participate in police operations. In the state of Ceará, between June and September, 20 out of 33 police officers indicted for participating in the 2015 Massacre of Curió stood trial. Six of them were convicted of murder and torture, and 14 were acquitted. Another 13 had yet to be put on trial. On 24 July, the Federal Police arrested former firefighter Maxwell Simões Corrêa as a third suspect in the long-running investigation into the murders of councillor and human rights defender Marielle Franco The State of the World’s Human Rights