Marinalva Santana
LGBT rights defender and teacher Marinalva Santana is a founding member of Grupo Matizes, which works to defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in Teresina, Piauí State. Widespread social hostility to the issue of LGBT rights has placed the NGO and its workers at serious risk. Marinalva Santana is also a committee member of the Conselho Municipal LGBT, founded in 2010 to lobby for the rights of the LGBT community politically.
The challenges and threats faced by human rights defenders in Brazil remain very high, particularly for those working on issues of land, environment, indigenous peoples, LGBTi rights, corruption and impunity. Many HRDs have experienced death threats, physical attacks, arbitrary arrests and lawsuits. The high number of killings is of particular concern and takes place against a background of widespread impunity.
