HRW warns that Lula should give priority to human rights

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) today warned that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, re-elected President of Brazil on Sunday, must use the new mandate to face chronic human rights problems in the country.

“ During the current mandate, President Lula supported democratic institutions and made important advances in the protection of the Amazon forest and the local communities that depend on it to survive, but had a mixed performance in other areas,” said César Muñoz, HRW director in Brazil, in a statement.

In the same note it is emphasized that, after taking office in January 2023, Lula took important steps to repair some of the government's damage prior to democratic institutions, the environment and the protection of human rights in general.

However, it reads in the note, the “chronic problems of human rights continued to plague the country, including police abuse, which disproportionately affect the black population.”.

“ The deaths caused by the police reached a record in 2025 — with 6,589 victims” and followed a growth trend this year, according to data until September, “impulsed by failed strategies that allowed the uncontrolled use of lethal force by the police”, it is pointed out in the communication.

The NGO also points out in criminal matters that, during an interview (on October 15), the President defended the reduction of criminal age to 16 years in cases of heinous crimes, which HRW considers to be a measure that would violate international law, “which states that adolescents should be subject to systems of justice other than those for adults”.

In addition, according to Human Rights Watch, this proposal would also undermine, rather than strengthen, the country’s efforts to reduce crime, because “teens who break the law can and must be held accountable, but in an individualized way, to promote their reintegration.”.

With regard to the environment, HRW considers that the President of Brazil should reverse the inconsistencies that endanger the rights of Brazilians and Brazilians.

“[The] government managed to reduce deforestation in the Amazon to the lowest level ever recorded, according to official data, and resumed the demarcation of indigenous territories. However, it did not take sufficient steps to ensure traceability of cattle, the largest vector of illegal deforestation and consequent human rights violations”, reads in the statement.

In this regard, HRW states that Lula da Silva’s Government has launched, after years of waiting, a national pesticide reduction program, however, “continued to allow the use of highly dangerous pesticides — many of which are banned in the European Union and elsewhere due to proven damage to health and the environment”.

In HRW’s opinion, the Lula Government should also “promote measures to strengthen the fight against corruption, including articulation with Congress to ensure transparency and monitoring of the use of the public budget”, as well as combating gender violence, serious obstacles to access to legal abortion, violence against human rights defenders and the environment and institutionalization of people with disabilities due to the lack of sufficient community support services.

“President Lula, who will not be able to apply again in 2030, has the chance to leave his mark in the country, seeking solutions to long-term problems that make a real difference in the protection of the rights and freedoms of Brazilians and Brazilians”, concludes Muñoz.

Lula da Silva – who guaranteed re-election on Sunday – won with about 51.7% the second round of Brazil’s presidential elections, against Flávio Bolsonaro, and will hold the fourth presidential term from the beginning of next year.

Lula's first two terms as President of the Republic of Brazil were between 2003 and 2011.