Brazil sees decline in human rights indicators, study

New data released this Thursday by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HMRI), a collaboration between researchers and human rights defenders, shows that Brazil has lost points in several indicators of economic and social rights in the last five years. The general score dropped from 5.8 in 2018 to 4.7 now.

The biggest declines were in the “opinion and expression” index (which fell from 5.5 in 2018 to 3.9 in 2022) and “participation in government” (from 5.7 to 4). Experts identified Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and people of particular races as being at greater risk of having their rights neglected. 

The “right to be safe from state violence” was rated higher: 5.3. ​​The country scored below average on indicators of torture, arbitrary arrest, and extrajudicial executions. But the score improved because of Brazil’s lack of the death penalty, giving it a full 10/10 score in that criteria.

According to the researchers, the change in indicators may be directly related to the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro, which lasted from 2019 to 2022. “It might be more appropriate to say that respect for physical integrity plummeted to its lowest levels during [Mr.] Bolsonaro’s presidency. In fact, the largest improvement seems to have happened in the last year, during an election year when the sitting government has the most incentive to reduce its abuse of potential voters,” says K. Chad Clay, HRMI methodology research and design lead.

The expert also claims that the drop in the freedom of expression index is related to less state violence against the population, because people tend to avoid riots and demonstrations when there is a government with signs of authoritarianism. “If people censor themselves out of fear of the government, the government never has to get physical with them to silence them.”

“The HMRI scores, based on both local reporting and international databases, show that the Brazilian government failed to fully protect human rights in recent years, particularly the rights to political participation and freedom of opinion and expression,” said spokesperson Thalia Kehoe Rowden.

This week, The Brazilian Report pointed out that human rights defenders in the country are at mortal risk, especially in areas where crime and land conflicts are rife. Between 2019 and 2022, 169 of them were murdered in Brazil — an average of one every ten days. The findings echo those of the United Nations, which reported that 13 percent of the world’s 1,323 killings of activists occurred in Brazil.

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