At least 580 detainees in a major operation against gender-based violence in Brazil

São Paulo.- At least 580 people accused of domestic and family violence against women were arrested in a major operation in the state of São Paulo, the most populous in Brazil, amid a peak in femicides in the region, official sources reported. The action, initiated on Monday night, mobilized around 1,800 agents to fulfill 1,400 arrest warrants issued by the justice system in various municipalities in São Paulo, noted the Secretariat for Women's Policies of São Paulo. Between January and November of this year, 233 femicides were recorded throughout the state of São Paulo, the highest figure since individual cases began to be counted in 2018, according to official data cited by the newspaper Folha de São Paulo. The number of femicides also shows an upward trend in recent years in Brazil. According to the Brazilian Public Safety Forum, in 2024, four women were victims of femicide per day in the country, an average that may be higher due to cases that are underreported or classified as homicides.

You may be interested in: Brazil ends a year of prominence with a 'bitter taste'

In total, 1,492 women were violently killed in Brazil for gender-related reasons, 17 more than in 2023. The data represents the highest number recorded since 2015, when the nation enacted the so-called Femicide Law to incorporate this crime into the Penal Code with the intention of differentiating it from common homicide. The Forum also points out that another 3,870 women were targeted for murder because they were women - 19% more than the previous year - and that some 56,900 suffered psychological violence (+6.3%).