Kategorie: Humans

Brazil faces a decisive test of its willingness to confront impunity for attacks against human rights defenders in the coming weeks, said Amnesty International amid the beginning of the trials over the murders of Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes, in the Federal Supreme Court, and Maria Bernadete Pacífico, known as Mãe Bernadete, in the Bahia Jury Court.

“Justice for Marielle Franco, Anderson Gomes and Mãe Bernadette is long overdue. Their killings are emblematic of the broader and highly alarming trend of lethal violence and structural racism against human rights defenders in Brazil,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“These trials offer a historic opportunity to break the cycle of impunity that has characterized the state’s response to the killings of human rights defenders for decades. It is essential that they proceed with full independence, transparency and respect for due process. No one, regardless of their position or power, should be beyond the reach of the law.”

These trials offer a historic opportunity to break the cycle of impunity that has characterized the state’s response to the killings of human rights defenders for decades. It is essential that they proceed with full independence, transparency and respect for due process. No one, regardless of their position or power, should be beyond the reach of the law.”

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

Emblematic killings of defenders

Marielle Franco, a black, bisexual woman from the Maré favela, a human rights defender, and a Rio de Janeiro city councilor, was murdered on 14 March 2018, alongside her driver, Anderson Gomes. This crime, for which justice has not been delivered to this day, raises many questions about gender, race and class discrimination that need to be answered.

The trial before the First Panel of the Supreme Court, scheduled for 24 and 25 February 2026, will examine the responsibility of those accused of participating in planning and ordering the crime. It will be central to upholding the rights to truth, memory, justice, and reparation for the victims, their families and communities, and all those who continue to demand answers about who ordered Marielle’s murder and why.

Mãe Bernadete, a human rights defender and member of a quilombo community (Afro-Brazilian communities formed by descendants of formerly enslaved Africans who resisted slavery and established autonomous settlements) from Quilombo Pitanga dos Palmares, was killed in August 2023 in Salvador. She was killed amid a backdrop of structural racism, violence against quilombola communities, and conflicts over land and territory that have threatened the physical, cultural and spiritual survival of her people for years. The Bahia Court of Justice scheduled the jury trial of two defendants for 24 February 2026, almost two years after the crime, in a context of repeated threats, deaths of other family members, and attacks on terreiros (Afro-Brazilian religious temples) and Black leaders who denounce human rights violations and demand protection and effective public policies.

Delays expose structural impunity

The fact that it has taken eight years for this trial over the killing Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes to take place will only take place in 2026 highlights how the Brazilian justice system fails to provide swift, effective, and respectful responses to victims and family members in cases of attacks on human rights defenders.

Years after the killings, family members, Black communities, quilombolas, peripheral communities, and religious communities continue to fight for memory, truth, and reparation, while facing insecurity, fear, institutional revictimization, and the feeling that the state still views their lives as disposable.

These two cases, although emblematic, represent only a fraction of a much broader picture of violence, threats, and persecution – often repeatedly denounced – that are not adequately investigated, do not result in accountability, and, in countless cases, do not even reach the stage of formal complaints being filed. The slow responses, failure to investigate those who order the attacks, the racial and territorial selectivity of the justice system, and the lack of consistent prevention and protection policies fuels the impunity that encourages new attacks and sends the message that it is possible to silence human rights defenders without facing the consequences.

Brazil is one of the deadliest countries for defenders

Several studies, surveys, and official statistics point to Brazil as one of the deadliest countries for human rights defenders, especially those seeking to protect the rights to land, territory, natural resources, and traditional peoples and communities. According to the organization Global Witness, 342 land and environmental defenders were killed in Brazil from 2012 to 2021, more than any other country on the planet during this period.

In agrarian and socio-environmental disputes, in urban areas marked by police violence, in quilombola and Indigenous territories, and in Afrodescendent religious spaces, defenders face threats, criminalization, murders, and disappearances, largely without the state taking adequate action to prevent, investigate, and punish these crimes.

The protection of human rights defenders remains inadequate due to insufficient public policies; limited protection programs; a lack of resources; profiling by police based on race, gender, class, and territory that remains largely unaddressed; and ineffective investigation of threats. Failure to respond firmly and swiftly to attacks and intimidation contributes to an environment of fear and self-censorship, in which many people give up reporting human rights violations, further aggravating the risks for those who remain on the frontlines.

“Defending rights should not cost lives. The Brazilian authorities must recognize the importance of human rights defenders and their actions, properly protect them and guarantee their rights, and ensure that any violations are exhaustively investigated and remedied, with fair and swift redress. The egregious killings of Marielle Franco and Mãe Bernadete must serve as a turning point in the protection of all those who dare to defend human rights in Brazil,” said Agnès Callamard.

Defending rights should not cost lives. The Brazilian authorities must recognize the importance of human rights defenders and their actions, properly protect them and guarantee their rights, and ensure that any violations are exhaustively investigated and remedied, with fair and swift redress.” 

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

Amnesty International’s commitment to these and other defenders

Amnesty International has continuously campaigned for justice for Marielle, Anderson and Mãe Bernadete, denouncing violence against human rights defenders in Brazil at national, regional, and international levels, and urging the authorities to ensure independent, impartial, and effective investigations, with accountability for suspected perpetrators, including those who ordered the crimes. The organization has highlighted their stories in its reports, campaigns, and global mobilization actions, placing them at the center of the struggle for memory and reparation in the face of serious human rights violations committed against Black women, quilombola leaders, favela communities, and traditional peoples and communities.

At the same time, Amnesty International emphasizes that combating violence against human rights defenders in Brazil must not be limited to the search for justice for these killings. The organization will continue to demand answers for countless other cases that have not reached the trial stage, in which the perpetrators have not been identified, in which repeated threats have not been investigated, and in which families and communities remain without any form of reparation or official recognition.

Amnesty International will remain vigilant and continue to stand alongside the people and communities on the frontline of defending human rights in Brazil – in the favelas, lowlands, quilombos, indigenous lands, urban peripheries, terreiros, rural areas, and all territories marked by conflict, racism, and inequality. As the trials over the killings of Marielle, Anderson and Mãe Bernadete begin, the organization calls on Brazilian authorities at all levels to:

• Ensure fair, independent, and transparent trials, with effective protection for family members, witnesses, communities, human rights defenders, lawyers, prosecutors and others involved in the proceedings.

• Ensure that the masterminds, criminal networks, and economic and political networks and interests behind the crimes, are effectively investigated and held to account, without fear or favor: breaking with the practice of holding only the direct perpetrators accountable must be a priority.

• Strengthen, with resources, transparency, and social participation, policies and programs to protect human rights defenders, seriously and effectively ensuring a focus on race, gender, sexual orientation, territory, and class.

• Address structural impunity by reopening and reviewing closed or stalled cases, swiftly investigating reported threats, and adopting measures to prevent recurrence, including institutional reforms, training for public officials, and combating racism and institutional violence.

For more information or to request an interview, please contact: press@amnesty.org 

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Ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, said:

“The people of Ukraine have now endured another year of full-scale aggression, the most devastating so far in terms of its humanitarian consequences, and deadliest in terms of civilian casualties since 2022. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his senior officials indicted by the International Criminal Court remain fugitives from international justice.

“Despite the ongoing aggression, international resolve to oppose Russia’s crimes under international law and support its victims has come under increasing strain in recent months, particularly since the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency.Commitments to justice and human rights are weakening as powerful actors grow emboldened to disregard international law and further erode the rules-based order. 

“We see this in rhetoric minimizing Russia’s responsibility for serious violations, and in proposals suggesting that impunity for aggression and other crimes is an acceptable price to pay to end the fighting. We also see it in the reckless, unchecked attacks on the International Criminal Court, and in recent limitations in assistance to Ukrainian refugees, with some states suggesting that parts of the country are now safe for return. 

“Injustice must be addressed, not normalized. Impunity must be challenged, not embedded in peace proposals.

Any pressure on Ukraine to compromise on accountability for war-related crimes or to accept Russia’s territorial and other demands is as morally repugnant as it is unlawful.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns

“Ukrainian civilians continue to endure daily indiscriminate attacks. Critical infrastructure indispensable for survival has been relentlessly destroyed, placing millions of lives at risk. Russian forces continue to torture prisoners of war, and terrorize and deport civilians in the territories they occupy, subject teachers to forcible labour, and indoctrinate children and deny them their identity. All the while, Moscow demands control over more Ukrainian territory as part of ‘peace negotiations’.

“The world must not forget that since Russia’s occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea 12 years ago, it has brought devastation and immense suffering to the people of Ukraine, both in the occupied territory and beyond. Millions have been displaced, countless families have been left homeless, and far too many lives lost. Russia’s aggression — a crime under international law — has tested not only the courage and resilience of Ukrainians, but also the resolve of the international community to uphold human rights and ensure justice.

“Any pressure on Ukraine to compromise on accountability for war-related crimes or to accept Russia’s territorial and other demands is as morally repugnant as it is unlawful. There must be no impunity for crimes under international law, and such crimes carry no statute of limitation.

“This is a critical moment for humanity. The resolve of the international community must not falter. It is paramount that the people of Ukraine receive truth, justice and reparations for the devastating impact this war has inflicted over the past twelve years — and continues to inflict on the country, its people, its land, and its future.”

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EU foreign ministers must use their meeting on 23 February with Nikolai Mladenov, Director-General of the Board of Peace and High Representative for Gaza, to demand that the board focuses on Palestinians’ rights, Amnesty International said.

The meeting in Brussels must also address the flaws of the Board of Peace mechanism and ensure it is aligned with human rights obligations under international law.

“The Board of Peace represents a dangerous assault on international law, and an attempt to create a parallel decision-making structure that bypasses and undermines the United Nations and international justice institutions.

The EU and its members states must be absolutely clear: this body is no substitute for the UN, the international human rights framework, or the global justice system painstakingly built over decades to uphold universal values, cooperation and equality.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.  

“When legal protections and the UN’s human rights and humanitarian architecture are needed more than ever, the EU must firmly resist any attempt to undermine them,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.  

“By sidelining accountability and marginalizing Palestinians, this mechanism erases the centrality of victims and their rights, while normalizing the very power dynamics that have enabled Israel’s unlawful occupation, apartheid and its ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza to continue with impunity.”

“Any EU engagement that does not place Palestinians’ rights at its core risks complicity in violations, which are likely to occur if this fundamentally flawed mechanism is not urgently made rights-compliant and aligned with international law.”

Nearly one year ago, on 24 February 2025, the EU hosted Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister at the EU-Israel Association Council. High Representative Kaja Kallas stated she was “glad to welcome” the foreign minister to Brussels and pledged that the EU would “continue to be an honest, open and viable, reliable partner to the region”.

Days later, Israel resumed its siege on Gaza, killing 15 paramedics and rescue workers, cut off electricity to a desalination plant and unilaterally ended a fragile truce by launching a series of deadly air strikes killing at least 412 Palestinians, including 174 children, in one of the bloodiest days of the genocide.

Since the announcement of the so-called “ceasefire” on 9 October 2025, Israeli authorities have continued committing genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. An arbitrary, constantly shifting demarcating line, known as the Yellow Line, effectively creates a no-go zone for Palestinians across nearly 60 percent of the Gaza Strip causing further mass forced displacement of Palestinians and exacerbating already inhumane living conditions, while cutting off Palestinians from most of their fertile agricultural zones.

Israel’s suspension of the registration of 37 humanitarian international NGOs, set to take effect within days, will close health facilities and field hospitals, halt food distribution and cut off life-saving care for Palestinians across the OPT. The effect is likely to be catastrophic. Medical evacuations from Gaza are already obstructed, restricted entry of indispensable supplies and equipment, including medical supplies, and Israel’s cruel blockade continues despite the International Court of Justice’s orders to immediately reverse it.

In 2025, a record number of new settlements were approved (54), outposts established (86), and Palestinian homes demolished in Area C (1,269) in the occupied West Bank. State-backed settler violence and Israel’s suffocating policies led to the full or partial displacement of 22 Palestinian communities, while Palestinians are routinely targeted with arbitrary detention without charges or trial and torture and other ill-treatment while locked up.

Meanwhile the Knesset is considering changing the law to allow Israeli courts to expand their use of the death penalty with provisions designed to be selectively used against Palestinians, further entrenching Israel’s cruel apartheid system.

“Israel is not just openly flouting international law and crossing each of the EU’s red lines, it is doing so with utterly brazen disregard, as evidenced by numerous statements made by leading Israeli policymakers. Yet the EU’s response remains one of appeasement – breaching international law, the human rights of Palestinians and the EU’s own rules,” continued Guevara-Rosas.  

“Lip service will not stop Israel from violating international law at will. A growing consensus is urging the EU to take principled action. This means suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which is conditional on respect for human rights, imposing a comprehensive arms embargo, enacting targeted sanctions against Israeli officials, and ending trade and investment with Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“Now is precisely the moment to defend, uphold and enforce international law. Abandoning it would pose an existential threat for the EU and its legitimacy.”

Background

On 19 February, the first meeting of the Board of Peace was held in Washington. It is envisioned that 50 countries will join the Board of Peace, with 35 leaders showing interest so far. Of EU member states, Bulgaria and Hungary joined the Board of Peace as members. The EU, Cyprus, Czechia, Greece, Italy and Romania joined as observers.

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Responding to the Hong Kong Court of Appeal rejecting the appeals of 12 defendants in the ‘Hong Kong 47’ case, Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas spokesperson Fernando Cheung said:

“The court’s dismissal of these appeals underlines the grave state of human rights in Hong Kong and once again demonstrates the politically motivated nature of the Hong Kong 47 case.

“None of these 12 defendants committed an internationally recognized crime; they have been serving lengthy sentences simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and participation in public affairs.

“It is deeply concerning that, since the introduction of ‘Article 23’ in 2024, at least eight defendants in the Hong Kong 47 case have reportedly been denied early release on the basis of vague and new national security justifications, in contrast to previous long-standing practice in Hong Kong.

“This shows how ‘Article 23’, like the Beijing-imposed National Security Law used to prosecute the Hong Kong 47, has been weaponized to impose additional punitive and retroactive measures against dissidents, including silencing those already behind bars.

“By failing to overturn these wrongful convictions and sentences today, the court has missed a critical opportunity to correct this mass injustice.

“Peaceful opposition to a government is not a crime, and all remaining jailed members of the Hong Kong 47 should be released immediately and unconditionally.”

Background 

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal today dismissed the appeals of 12 defendants in the ‘Hong Kong 47’ case.

In Hong Kong’s largest prosecution under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, which was enacted in June 2020, 47 opposition figures were jointly charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion”. Thirty-one of the 47 pleaded guilty to the charge while 16 pleaded not guilty, two of whom were acquitted.

The charges against the “Hong Kong 47” relate to their organization and participation in self-organized “primaries” for the 2020 Legislative Council elections that were ultimately postponed by authorities on Covid-19 grounds before a new electoral system that strictly vetted who could stand for office was brought in.

To treat self-organized “primaries” conducted by political parties to select candidates to put forward for elections as a genuine threat to Hong Kong’s existence, territorial integrity or political independence does not meet the high threshold of application for “national security” that international human rights standards require.

In March 2024, Hong Kong introduced its Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, often referred to as the ‘Article 23’ law. The law has further squeezed people’s freedoms and enabled authorities to intensify their crackdown on peaceful activism in the city and beyond.

‘Article 23’ has also been used to impose additional punitive measures against dissidents already serving sentences. Before the enactment of ‘Article 23’, the Prison Rules provided that prisoners with good conduct were eligible for early release after serving two-thirds of their sentences. However, under new rules introduced pursuant to ‘Article 23’, the prison authorities can deny the early release on “national security” grounds.

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Responding to the release of the Belarusian opposition politician Mikalai Statkevich, detained since 2020, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:

“Our relief at Mikalai Statkevich’s release is tempered by our indignation at the profound injustice and personal injury he has suffered during years behind bars serving an unfounded prison sentence, much of it in prolonged isolation. The latter is in violation of the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment — his health severely deteriorated. Releasing a prisoner of conscience after he has suffered a stroke is not justice, it is the sign of its profound absence.

Our relief at Mikalai Statkevich’s release is tempered by our indignation at the profound injustice and personal injury he has suffered during years behind bars serving an unfounded prison sentence, much of it in prolonged isolation

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director

“Belarusian authorities must end the practice of imprisoning of activists, journalists and other government critics for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all persons unjustly detained and imprisoned on politically motivated charges, including prominent human rights defenders Nasta Loika, Marfa Rabkova, Valiantsin Stefanovich and Vital Chopik.

“The Belarusian authorities have committed egregious violations. They must fully comply with their international human rights obligations, and those responsible for violating them must be held to account.”

Background

On 19 February 2026, Mikalai Statkevich’s wife, Marina Adamovich, confirmed that her husband had been released from a high security penal colony after suffering a stroke and spending several weeks in a prison hospital.

Mikalai Statkevich, 69, a long-time government critic, prominent opposition leader and former presidential candidate, was arrested on 31 May 2020. He was later sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment on trumped up charges of “organization of mass unrest” (Article 293(1) of the Criminal Code).

On 11 September 2025 he was released as part of a political deal between Belarus and the US. However, unlike other released prisoners, he refused to be forcibly exiled from Belarus and was forcibly disappeared at the border, and secretly returned to a penal colony where he was held incommunicado thereafter. During his latest imprisonment starting in 2020, he was held in isolation for long periods of time, reportedly contracted COVID-19 multiple times and on 21 January 2026 suffered a stroke.

As of 20 February 2026, the Belarusian Human Rights Centre Viasna claims 1,144 individuals as political prisoners in Belarus. Its list however is not exhaustive and is based on publicly available information which the Belarusian authorities are seeking to restrict.

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