Thank you for your time and attention. Brazil has been severely affected by climate change and attacks against democracy over the last 12 years, which have been challenging public policies on gender equality. From an intersectional perspective, the lack of sustained social security measures and access to fundamental rights leaves more than half of the Brazilian population at constant risk of violence and death threats - at home, in the streets, and in cyberspaces. Even Maria da Penha, an icon of the fight against domestic violence, is not safe.

Despite CEDAW's recommendations, illegal abortion is the 4th cause of maternal death. When allowed, it is hardly accessible. That's often the case for the 43 teenage girls who marry daily in unions that hide domestic violence and sexual abuse. Girls under 14 years old account for 85.7% of the cases of rape. The recent closure of centers that provide abortion services, harassment, and persecution of health care professionals, as well as doctors' refusal to follow WHO guidelines prevent them from accessing legal abortion. 

Inaccessibility of quality prenatal care and diverse forms of obstetric violence disproportionately affects Afro-descendants (as in the Aline Pimentel case), quilombola, and indigenous women. Brazil's lack of sustained support for postpartum care work, combined with a severe shortage of accessible, high-quality, full-time childcare services, relegates this task to domestic workers, typically Black women who work under abusive conditions, sometimes akin to modern slavery. 

Through the enforcement of the parental alienation law and related concepts and the disregard of accusations of domestic abuse in the context of the implementation of the Hague Convention by the justice system, institutional violence threatens women who report domestic violence or sexual abuse against their children. By 2023, 5,152 cases of parental alienation were decided, with women deemed the alienating parent in 70% of cases, revealing the gendered application of this law. These practices breach Brazil’s obligation to respect articles 2,5, and 16 of the Convention and to address gender-based violence: by undermining the Maria da Penha Law and laws protecting children, they revictimize women and children and reinforce harmful gender stereotypes. 

The number of homeless women increased significantly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the few available data are insufficient for developing effective public policy. Despite representing only 15% of this population, women are the victims in 40% of the reported violations. 

Finally, the private sector, particularly large extractive, infrastructure, and energy industries, which have announced investment boasting 300 million reais in funding until 2026, is not held accountable for violating women's physical and sexual integrity, health, and social and economic rights. We urge the Committee to press the Brazilian State to: