children – were deported, many without access to due process of law. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS In May the interim federal government dissolved the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Racial Equality and Human Rights and reduced it to a department within the Ministry of Justice, causing a significant reduction of resources and programmes dedicated to safeguarding women’s and girls’ rights. A number of studies during the year showed that lethal violence against women had increased by 24% over the previous decade and confirmed that Brazil was one of the worst Latin American countries in which to be a girl – especially due to extremely high levels of gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy, and low completion rates of secondary education. The gang rapes of a girl on 21 May and a woman on 17 October in Rio de Janeiro state, drew nationwide attention, further confirming the state’s failure to respect, protect and fulfil women’s and girls’ human rights. Between January and November, there were 4,298 cases of rape reported in the state of Rio de Janeiro, 1,389 of those in the capital. The year also marked one decade since legislation against domestic violence came into force. The government failed to rigorously implement the law, however, with domestic violence and impunity for it remaining widespread. CHILDREN’S RIGHTS In August, one adolescent died and another six were seriously wounded in a fire in a juvenile detention centre in the city of Rio de Janeiro. In September, one adolescent who had been hospitalized after the incident died as a result of injuries. The number of detainees in juvenile detention centres in Rio de Janeiro increased by 48% during the year, aggravating an already critical situation of overcrowding, poor living conditions, as well as torture and other ill-treatment. A proposed constitutional amendment to reduce the age at which children can be tried Amnesty International Report 2016/17 as adults from 18 to 16 was still under consideration in the Senate, despite being approved by the House of Representatives in 2015. 1. Brazil: Violence has no place in these games! Risk of human rights violations at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (AMR 19/4088/2016) 2. Brazil: A legacy of violence: Killings by police and repression of protest at the Rio 2016 Olympics (AMR 19/4780/2016) BRUNEI DARUSSALAM Brunei Darussalam Head of state and government: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Lack of transparency made independent monitoring of the human rights situation difficult. The phased implementation of the amended Penal Code continued. The Code, which seeks to impose Shari’a law, provides for the death penalty as well as corporal punishment that amount to torture and other ill-treatment for a range of offences. It also contains provisions which discriminate against women. The Shari’a legislation completed its first phase of implementation. Offences that are punishable with whipping or death sentence such as false claims (Article 206), deriding verses of the Qur’an or Hadith by nonMuslims (Article 111), and abetting or attempt to abet, had not been enforced. In February, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child urged the government to repeal Penal Code amendments which would impose the death penalty and corporal punishment on children; and to raise the minimum age for marriage. DEATH PENALTY Although abolitionist in practice, death by hanging was maintained as punishment for a number of offences including murder, terrorism and drug-related crimes. The amended Penal Code provided for 95