Rose Meire dos Santos Silva
"We were born amidst this fight"
Rose Meire dos Santos Silva is a woman human rights defender and one of the leaders of the Associação dos Remanescentes do Quilombo de Rio dos Macacos (Association of Remnants of the Quilombo Rio dos Macacos), in Simões Filho, Bahia where she has lived her whole life. Rose Meire dos Santos Silva has publicly denounced human rights violations by members of the Navy, who seek ownership of the quilombo land and feel entitled to perform racist attacks against the community.
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.
