The report includes a chapter pointing out that "Brazil continued to have one of the highest levels of inequality in the world. Systemic racism persisted, affecting the social, economic, cultural, political and civil rights of the black population".

The non-governmental organization cited that, until last December, the country's national Human Rights observatory registered "more than 3.4 million complaints of human rights violations", including racism, physical and psychological violence and sexual harassment, which indicates a 41% increase compared to 2022.

Referring to the different areas analysed by the report, Amnesty International stressed that police violence continued to be a deeply concerning issue in the country, resulting in unlawful killings and other serious human rights violations.

"Police violence, unlawful killings and arbitrary arrests 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", the document highlights.

Women, especially black women, also faced barriers in accessing their rights. Gender-based violence continued to be alarmingly high in Brazil, with transgender people at significant risk. Abortion remained illegal, putting pregnant people at risk.

The report also highlighted that human rights defenders and activists continued to be at significant risk.

"Brazil failed to protect human rights defenders. According to Global Justice, an average of three defenders were murdered in Brazil every month in the past four years. The Human Rights Defenders Protection Programme, established by decree in 2007, was still not supported by legislation and lacked differentiated approaches to gender, race, ethnicity, sexual diversity and territory", Amnesty International pointed out.

"According to the Ministry of Human Rights, of the 269 cases analysed in August, 30% involved persecution of indigenous defenders and 44% of black defenders", it added.

In Amnesty International's assessment, the indigenous peoples of Brazil are being denied the full enjoyment of their rights to their lands and territories, to health, to food security, to self-determination and to traditional ways of life.

The organization recalled that the Brazilian government approved the demarcation of eight indigenous lands, but 134 procedures were still under study, according to the National Indian Foundation (Funai).

On the other hand, Congress approved a bill limiting the deadline for the demarcation of indigenous lands in early October 2023, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva partially vetoed the issue and eventually Congress rejected the presidential veto.

According to AI, food insecurity remained widespread, a third of the Brazilian population remained below the poverty line, school dropout rates persisted and violence in schools increased.

"More than 70 million people [in Brazil] suffered from food insecurity and 21.1 million (10% of the population) faced hunger. The Brazil Without Hunger government plan aimed to reduce poverty by 2.5% and remove the country from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Hunger Map by 2030", the report notes.

"By the end of October [2023], 13 episodes of violent attacks with weapons in schools were registered (30% of all incidents in the last 20 years in Brazil), including shootings, which left nine dead. All the perpetrators were male; the majority of the victims were female", it concludes.

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