Human rights organizations say 480,000 Covid deaths were avoidable in Brazil

Protesters in Rio blame the government for Brazil's sheer amount of Covid deaths. Photo: Jorge Hely Veiga/Shutterstock

According to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and human rights organizations, Brazil could have avoided a total of 480,000 Covid-19 deaths during the pandemic had the government taken a different policy course. The number is equivalent to all of the deaths recorded between the start of the coronavirus crisis and June 10 of this year.

The organizations’ final report will be sent to Brazil’s Prosecutor General Augusto Aras today, who will be urged to take action based on the evidence therein. Other organizations will receive the document, such as the United Nations and the Organization of American States.

The report says that President Jair Bolsonaro and other high-ranking members of the government violated at least 10 international human rights treaties related to health and life protections, and should be held accountable.

“At no point did [Mr. Bolsonaro] show any empathy to those affected by Covid-19 — much to the contrary, he ridiculed them and called them ‘weaklings’ — he made it clear that life, the dearest asset of his fellow citizens, who elected him to govern the country, has no value to him,” reads the report.

Amanda Audi

Amanda Audi is a journalist specializing in politics and human rights. She is the former executive director of Congresso em Foco and worked as a reporter for The Intercept Brasil, Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo, Gazeta do Povo, Poder360, among others. In 2019, she won the Comunique-se Award for best-written media reporter and won the Mulher Imprensa award for web journalism in 2020