A/HRC/59/62/Add.1 National Council of Justice to address the sentencing that is driving mass incarceration and to encourage the use of non-custodial alternatives. 49. The Special Rapporteur notes information she received about some efforts to improve detention conditions in Brazil. These efforts include work done by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security to implement the 2019 judgment of the Supreme Court on the unconstitutionality of detention conditions, and state-level programmes in Bahia to ensure access to education and other programmes for incarcerated persons. However, she met with individuals who described dehumanizing conditions of detention where persons deprived of their liberty live in squalid and overcrowded conditions without access to basic necessities, essential services, such as healthcare, and opportunities to access education, employment experience or rehabilitation services. Those with whom the Special Rapporteur met articulated the parallels between current detention conditions and historical patterns of enslavement. 50. In addition, dehumanizing detention conditions and a lack of social support services when people are released from prison are reportedly only compounding their marginalization and exclusion, leading, in some cases, to recidivism. The Special Rapporteur was also deeply disturbed by testimonies about racial profiling and targeted violence by law enforcement officials against individuals who have recently been released from prison. I. Religious intolerance and discrimination 51. Systemic racism, oppression and violence in Brazil intersects with religious intolerance and discrimination, including against those who practise African religions. The Special Rapporteur is concerned by reports about the high – and growing – numbers of cases of such religious intolerance and discrimination, often referred to in Brazil as “religious racism”, against persons who practise Afro-Brazilian religions. These reports included deeply harmful acts of everyday racism, such as taxi drivers shutting the door on persons wearing clothes associated with Afro-Brazilian religions, restrictions on the wearing of such clothes in workplaces and the bullying of children who practise Afro-Brazilian religions. 52. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur received deeply concerning information about high and increasing rates of attacks against terreiros – Afro-Brazilian religious and sacred sites and hubs of community support and care – and seeming impunity for such violence. These attacks, which often involve the desecration of religious sites and violence against individuals practising Afro-Brazilian religions, are reportedly perpetrated by State actors or individuals involved in drug trafficking. The Special Rapporteur perceives such violence to be acts of misogyny and racism given that many terreiros are led by women of African descent. She is also concerned at reports that women who practise Afro-Brazilian religions face losing custody of their children on the basis of their religious affiliation. The Special Rapporteur is also concerned by reports that public events organized by practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions have been threatened or attacked by members of neo-Pentecostal groups. She notes that the Government and both federal and state officials recognized the growing issue of religious racism and welcomes the fact that the Ministry of Racial Equality is taking steps to develop a programme to address this deeply concerning phenomenon. 53. The Special Rapporteur was also concerned by reports she received during her visit of incidents of Islamophobia targeting Brazilian Muslims and migrants, including refugees and asylum-seekers, particularly in Santa Catarina. These incidents include public abuse, violence and intimidation, with women at particular risk, especially women who wear the hijab. Some individuals with whom the Special Rapporteur met reported an increase in Islamophobia since the escalation of violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, since 7 October 2023. The Special Rapporteur notes with concern a lack of information from state and federal officials about the steps being taken to address Islamophobia. GE.25-06011 13