equivalent to 1,300 football fields per day.
During COP28, President Lula announced
that Brazil would join the informal alliance
OPEC+ (Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries and allied countries) and
reinforced in his speech that Brazil would
take the lead on climate policies to guarantee
a just transition to a green economy. The
COP also confirmed that Brazil would host
the COP30 meeting in Belem do Para in the
Amazon region in 2025.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
Sônia Guajajara, an Indigenous woman,
became the first minister of Indigenous
Peoples.
Indigenous Peoples were denied full
enjoyment of their rights to their lands and
territories, health, food security, selfdetermination and traditional ways of living.
On 20 January, the Ministry of Health
declared a national public health emergency
due to the lack of assistance available for the
Yanomami population, which was suffering
from malnutrition, contamination and sexual
violence, caused largely by the presence of
illegal mining activities. Despite this, 263,000
hectares of illegal mining spots remained,
almost 90% of which were located in the
Amazon region.
The government approved the demarcation
of eight Indigenous lands, but 134
procedures were still in the study phase,
according to the National Indigenous
Foundation. Congress passed a bill limiting
the time frame for the demarcation of
Indigenous lands at the beginning of October;
the president partially vetoed the issue and
eventually Congress rejected the president´s
veto.
As a result of conflict and violence relating
to land demarcation, in January two young
Pataxó men, Nawir Brito de Jesus and
Samuel Cristiano do Amor Divino, were
murdered in Bahia state. In June, a 16-yearold Pataxó teenager was murdered in the
same state. In April, a Yanomami Indigenous
man was killed after an attack by miners in
Roraima state. In September, a Guarani
Kaiowá couple, Sebastiana Gauto and Rufino
108
Velasque, were found dead in their house in
Mato Grosso do Sul state, having been burnt
to death.
According to the Ministry of Human Rights,
11 Guarani Kaiowá people were included in
the Programme for the Protection of Human
Rights Defenders.
QUILOMBOLAS
According to the 2022 census, 1,327,802
people identified themselves as Quilombolas
(traditional people who are descendants of
Africans who escaped slavery), representing
0.65% of the Brazilian population. Little
progress was made on land titles for
Quilombola communities. The Quilombola
Lands Observatory noted 1,787 titling
processes underway as of October. Five new
titles were granted to Quilombola
communities in 2023, benefiting 960
families.
SEXUAL AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
The extent of gender-based violence
remained alarming. From January to June,
there were 599 femicides and 263 attempted
femicides. Up to October, 86,593 reports of
violence against women had been registered.
The state had still not implemented public
policies against gender-based violence that
addressed the intersections between gender
and race.
Transgender people continued to face
extreme violence and human rights
violations. For the 14th consecutive year,
more transgender people were killed in Brazil
than anywhere else in the world. By October,
the National Ombudsperson of Human
Rights’ Office had registered 3,873 human
rights violations affecting transgender people,
such as physical violence, discrimination and
racism, compared with 3,309 cases in 2022.
SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Abortion remained a criminal offence. Up to
July, according to the Ministry of Health, at
least 19 people had died due to unsafe
abortions. In September, a lawsuit seeking
the decriminalization of abortion in the first
12 weeks of pregnancy was put before the
The State of the World’s Human Rights
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