Brazil remains world leader in killing of trans people despite decline in 2025, rights group says – MercoPress

Brazil remains world leader in killing of trans people despite decline in 2025, rights group says

Brazil has once again topped the global list of trans and transvestite killings, despite a year-on-year decrease in recorded murders, according to a new annual document released on Monday by the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (Antra). The report projected 80 killings in 2025, down from 122 in 2024 — a drop of about 34% that still leaves Brazil at the top for nearly 18 years, the group said.

President Antra Bruna Benevides chalked up the numbers as the result of entrenched systemic drivers rather than isolated incidents. “These are not isolated deaths,” she said at the start of the documentary, describing a community exposed “from a very early age” to extreme violence shaped by social exclusion, racism, institutional abandonment and constant psychological suffering.

According to Antra, documentation is created through daily monitoring of reports, direct complaints filed by trans organizations, and public records. Benevides argued that the methodology points to a gap in state capacity: if civil society doesn’t do the tracking, “deaths simply don’t exist for the state,” she said.

In terms of geographic distribution, the report identified Ceará and Minas Gerais as the states with the highest number of killings in 2025, with eight each. By region, violence was most concentrated in the Northeast of Brazil (38), followed by the Southeast (17), the Midwest (12), the North (7), and the South (6). For the period 2017–2025, Antra said São Paulo was the deadliest state in cumulative terms, with 155 recorded deaths.

While the number of murders has fallen, the documentation shows an increase in attempted murders, warning that the decline does not necessarily mean a meaningful improvement in safety. Antra cites several factors that can obscure the true extent of violence: underreporting, low trust in law enforcement and judicial institutions, reduced media coverage, and a lack of concrete public policies to address transphobia. The organization also points to the Brazilian legal framework, noting – as mentioned in the United Nations Brazil report – that the Supreme Federal Court has considered homophobic and transphobic behavior under the country’s racism law.

The Brazilian findings also fit broader regional patterns captured by international monitoring. TGEU’s Trans Murder Monitoring project, which collects reported cases worldwide, recorded 281 murders of trans and gender-diverse people between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025. TGEU said 68% of reported murders occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean, and that Brazil led the list for the 18th consecutive period with 30% of cases. The organization cautions that its figures depend on reporting and may underestimate the true number due to data limitations and misreporting.

Antra’s ninth document will be presented at a ceremony held at Brazil’s Ministry of Human Rights with an official handover to representatives of the federal government, Agência Brasil reported.