Brazil

Chronic human rights problems plague Brazil. Some police officers kill unlawfully, torture detainees, and mistreat children in conflict with the law. Many Brazilian prisons are severely overcrowded, and the lack of adequate state control leaves inmates vulnerable to violence, extortion, and recruitment by gangs. Other human rights problems include violence against women, killings of journalists and bloggers because of their work, and violence against rural activists and indigenous people involved in conflicts over land. Perpetrators of abuses during the military rule of 1964 to 1985 continue to be shielded from justice by an amnesty law passed by the military regime.