Operation arrests more than 1,600 targets for sexual abuse of minors in Brazil
Operation Caminhos Seguros 2026 of the MJSP (Ministry of Justice and Public Security), which combatted the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, ended this Thursday (21) as one of the largest mobilizations to protect minors ever carried out in Brazil.
According to the ministry, the operation was launched in all 27 states, bringing together 44,568 police officers in 15,129 vehicles throughout the action that passed through 3,637 Brazilian municipalities.
The main objective of the action was to carry out inspections, preventive actions, compliance with court orders and educational activities.
The ministry reported that, in total, 1,674 arrests were made, of which 844 were caught in the act and 830 were due to court warrants.
Brazil records an average of 150 rapes of vulnerable people per day; understand
"Operation Caminhos Seguros demonstrates that protecting children and adolescents is a collective and continuous responsibility. We had a broad national mobilization, with integration between security forces and preventive, repressive and victim reception actions", says the national secretary of Public Security, Chico Lucas.
427 search and seizure warrants were also executed, seizing 798 objects related to sexual exploitation.
The body also highlights that assistance was provided to 6,865 victims and the opening of 1,815 protective measures. During this period, 4,650 complaints were received by agents and 4,293 incidents were investigated.
In addition, the action carried out 9,361 educational actions, visiting 14,637 schools across the country.
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Technology facilitates child abuse, says Unicef
An unprecedented study reveals that one in every five children or adolescents has been a victim of sexual exploitation and/or abuse facilitated by technology in Brazil. This represents around 3 million girls and boys who are victims of online sexual violence.
The data is part of the report "Disrupting Harm in Brazil: Facing sexual violence against children facilitated by technology", launched this Wednesday (4) by Unicef (United Nations Children's Fund) Innocenti, in partnership with ECPAT International and Interpol, with funding from Safe Online.
The research brings together evidence on how this violence is facilitated by digital tools such as social networks, online games, messaging platforms and others, pointing out risks, patterns and challenges for preventing and tackling crime.
Exposure to unsolicited sexual content appears as the most common form of violence, affecting 14% of children and adolescents interviewed. In almost half of the cases (49%), the exploitation and/or abuse was committed by someone known to the victim. And many children and teenagers didn't have the courage to ask for help - 34% didn't tell anyone.
Brazil has 619 thousand children and adolescents deprived of education
Source: CNN