In a landmark ruling, the Brazilian Supreme Court convicted former President Bolsonaro and other former officials of plotting a coup. It was the first time in Brazil’s history that the leaders of a coup were tried.
Amazon deforestation fell 11 percent in the last year. Cattle raised in illegally deforested land kept on entering the legal supply chain. The government sought a sharp increase in oil production, ignoring its impacts on the global climate.
Police killed 5,920 people between January and November 2025. A court ruling and a resolution that instructed prosecutors to lead investigations into police killings, instead of leaving them in the hands of the police themselves, offered hope of improved investigations.
Brazil became the first Latin American country to pass a law to protect children’s rights online.
Democratic Rule
In September, a panel of five Supreme Court justices sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to more than 27 years in prison for plotting to remain in office after losing the 2022 election and other crimes. The plan included killing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the vice-president, and a Supreme Court justice investigating Bolsonaro. The Supreme Court also convicted seven others, including active and retired military officers.
Charges included involvement in the ransacking of federal buildings in Brasilia carried out by a crowd calling for a coup on January 8, 2023. As of August, the Supreme Court had convicted 638 people who participated in the attack and another 552 had signed plea agreements. Bolsonaro allies in Congress promoted a bill to grant amnesty to all.
In September, the attorney general charged congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, former President Bolsonaro’s son, and a businessman with coercion for seeking US government interference in the trial against Bolsonaro. The Trump administration imposed tariffs on Brazil and sanctions and visa restrictions on Supreme Court judges who took decisions against Bolsonaro, their relatives and other officials.
Also in September, the Supreme Court ordered an investigation into Bolsonaro’s conduct during the Covid-19 pandemic, after a Congressional inquiry concluded his policies endangered the health and lives of Brazilians.
Corruption and Transparency
Budget allocations decided by lawmakers have increased eight-fold since 2014, to 50 billion reais (US$9 billion) in 2025. The Supreme Court had suspended such disbursements in 2024 due to lack of transparency, but allowed them to resume in 2025 after approving a plan drafted by Congress and the government that required, among other measures, public identification of the lawmakers responsible for the allocations and of those receiving the funds. Yet in August, a Supreme Court justice ordered federal police to investigate disbursements totaling 694 million reais ($129 million) allocated by lawmakers between 2020 and 2024 that were registered in the official system without providing sufficient information about their use.
In April, federal police and the comptroller-general uncovered unauthorized deductions from pensions paid to 3.3 million retirees totaling more than 6 billion reais ($1 billion). Media reported successive governments had received allegations of fraud but failed to act.
Freedom of Expression
In June, a comedian was sentenced to eight years in prison for public comments a court labeled “discriminatory.” Brazil’s penal code includes criminal defamation provisions that are incompatible with the obligation to protect free speech.
Also in June, the Supreme Court expanded the liability regime applicable to social media platforms in ways that digital rights experts fear could incentivize them to censor legitimate speech to avoid possible fines.
In July, a Supreme Court justice temporarily banned Bolsonaro from using social media over allegations he used them to obstruct justice, and, in August, the justice ordered that the former president be placed under house arrest for violating the ban.
Children’s Rights
In September, Brazil passed its first-ever law to protect children’s rights online, which establishes sweeping safeguards for children’s data, and compels companies to provide children with the highest levels of privacy and safety by default.
In August, the government requested that Meta remove chatbots created with Meta AI Studio that mimic children and engage in sexually explicit dialogue. Meta stated that its policies prohibit such use and that the company removes artificial intelligence software that violates its policies.
In 2023, 13,117 students, teachers, and others experienced violence in schools, more than triple the number in 2013. Fifty percent of the cases involved physical violence, followed by psychological and sexual violence at 23 percent each.
In December 2024, the National Council of Prosecutors (CNMP) established guidelines orienting prosecutors on how to address violence at school, including respecting teachers’ freedom and obligations to teach comprehensive sexuality education in line with international human rights standards.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
In February, the Supreme Court ruled that Brazil’s anti-domestic-violence law applies to same-sex couples and trans women.
In July, a federal court suspended a Federal Council of Medicine resolution that had raised the minimum age for hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries, and had banned puberty blockers for minors.
Public Security and Police Conduct
Homicides, not counting killings by police, fell 10 percent, to 30,159, between January and November, compared to the same period in 2024.
Police killed 5,920 people from January to November 2025; police killed 5,725 during the same period in 2024. Black Brazilians are three and a half times more likely to become a victim than white individuals.
In October, police conducted the most lethal raid in Rio de Janeiro’s history, which left 122 people dead, including 5 police officers.
While some police killings are in self-defense, many result from illegal use of force. Inadequate investigations into those cases, carried out by the police themselves, result in impunity for abuses.
In April, the Supreme Court ordered prosecutors to lead investigations whenever there is “suspicion” that police were responsible for an unlawful killing. In May, the CNMP published a resolution detailing how prosecutors should conduct these investigations to ensure they are thorough and independent.
In February, Rio de Janeiro’s new attorney general reestablished a unit of prosecutors tasked with overseeing police conduct.
In seven states and the federal district, official forensic units remain fully subordinated to civil police, a set-up that does not accord them the necessary independence, particularly in police abuse cases. Forensic units in other states have varying degrees of independence from police.
Detention Conditions
More than 674,500 people were incarcerated as of December 2024, exceeding the capacity of Brazilian facilities by 35 percent.
In April, the Supreme Court prohibited invasive body searches of visitors to prisons. Strip searches can be conducted only in exceptional cases and only with the visitor’s consent.
The number of children and young people held in youth detention—12,054—increased nearly 3 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, after several years of reduction.
Gender-Based Violence
In October 2024, Brazil enacted a law classifying “feminicide,” defined as killings “on account of being persons of the female sex,” as a stand-alone crime instead of an aggravating factor of homicide. From January through November 2025, 3,286 women and girls were killed, a 4 percent decrease compared with the same period in 2024. Of those, police registered 1,350 as femicide, a 3 percent increase.
There were 64,276 reported rapes of women and girls from January through November, a reduction of 8 percent compared with the same period in 2024. Between January and November 2025, 70 percent of the victims were under 14 or lacked capacity to express consent due to illness or for other reasons.
Abortion
Abortion is legal in Brazil only in cases of rape, to save a woman’s life, or in cases of fetus anencephaly. Access to abortion services even in such cases is highly restricted.
Criminalization of abortion pushes women, girls, and pregnant people out of the healthcare system. People who have illegal abortions can face up to three years in prison, and those who perform them face up to four years in prison. Police arrested at least 218 people in the context of illegal abortion investigations between 2012 and 2022, a study showed. Health providers reported women to police in dozens of cases.
Politicians around the country have introduced dozens of bills in recent years to further restrict legal abortion. The Chamber of Deputies approved a bill, now pending in the Senate, that would suspend guidelines for care for child survivors of sexual violence, including access to abortion.
Military-Era Abuses
In February 2025, the Supreme Court agreed to examine whether Brazil’s amnesty law applies to enforced disappearance, kidnapping, and unlawful imprisonment. The law, enacted by the dictatorship (1964-1985), has shielded officials responsible for grave human rights abuses and been ruled in violation of international law by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
In April, Indigenous organizations and federal prosecutors called on the government to create a new National Truth Commission to investigate human rights abuses against Indigenous peoples during the dictatorship.
As of November, the Ministry of Human Rights had issued 84 new death certificates attesting that the victims had been forcibly disappeared and killed during the dictatorship.
In August, a court found German company Volkswagen had subjected workers to slave-like conditions during Brazil’s dictatorship and ordered a fine of 165 million reais ($30 million). The company said it had complied with labor laws and would appeal.
Indigenous and Afro-Descendant People, and Environmental Defenders
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the marco temporal doctrine, which posits that Indigenous peoples have no right to their traditional land if they cannot prove they were physically on the land when Brazil’s Constitution was adopted in 1988. Congress responded by enshrining the doctrine in law. At time of writing, the Supreme Court had not yet ruled on a challenge to the new law. The impasse stalled administrative procedures to demarcate Indigenous territories.
As of November, the Lula administration had titled 7 Indigenous territories in 2025, bringing the total to 20 since it took office in 2023. Recognition of more than 800 territories claimed by Indigenous peoples was pending.
The government conducted operations to evict landgrabbers and illegal loggers in several Indigenous territories, in compliance with a Supreme Court decision. In some cases, illegal occupants took reprisals against communities.
In November, gunmen killed an Indigenous man and injured four others during an attack within an Indigenous territory that is in the process of being demarcated in Mato Grosso do Sul state.
The Lula administration has titled 4 territories of Afro-descendant (quilombolas) rural communities since 2023, but more than 2,000 applications remained pending at time of writing. In 2025, as of November, it had recognized the official limits of 5 quilombola territories and declared the area occupied by another 28 as “of social interest,” but had not titled any.
In November, the Chamber of Deputies approved the Escazú agreement, which strengthens the protection of environmental defenders, among other measures. At time of writing, it was pending before Senate.
Also in November, the government published the National Plan to Protect Human Rights Defenders, following pressure from human rights organizations for 20 years.
Environment
The government took measures to protect the environment but continued with plans to massively expand fossil fuel production.
Between August 2024 and July 2025, 5,796 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest were razed, an 11 percent decrease over the same period a year earlier.
Cattle ranching is the main driver of deforestation in the Amazon. Illegal ranching in protected areas and the territories of traditional communities often leads to violence and environmental harm. Illegally raised cattle enters the beef and leather supply chains, reaching national and international markets. In December 2024, the government announced a program to individually trace cattle, but full implementation would only be achieved in 2032.
In June, the government auctioned 34 blocks for oil and gas exploration and in October environmental authorities approved a license for an exploratory well near the mouth of the Amazon River. The government plans to increase oil production by 56 percent by 2030 compared to 2023. In July, Congress approved a bill that would have effectively dismantled the environmental licensing process. Lula vetoed the most harmful provisions, but retained the creation of a “special environmental license” allowing speedy approval of “strategic” projects. In November, Congress reinstated almost all vetoed provisions.
During the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Belém, Brazil launched the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, an investment fund that would pay tropical countries to keep their forests standing.
In June, Brazil created the National Program to Reduce the Use of Pesticides, which civil society groups had pushed for over a decade. Authorities are failing to protect against health and environmental harms caused by these chemicals, especially impacting Indigenous and quilombola people, and small farmers.
Disability and Older People’s Rights
In 2025, 14.4 million Brazilian adults and children over the age of 2 had disabilities. Thousands are confined in institutions—sometimes for life—where some face neglect and abuse.
In July, the government published a national care policy that includes support for people with disabilities and older people.
Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers
Over 700,000 Venezuelans have crossed the border into Brazil in recent years, fleeing hunger, lack of health care, or persecution.
Between January and July, Brazil granted residency permits to 44,278 Venezuelans, while 11,578 requested refugee status.
In total, Brazil has granted asylum to 145,276 Venezuelans and residency permits to 575,918 since 2010.
As of June, a voluntary relocation program initiated in 2018 had benefited 150,000 Venezuelans.