destroyed, most of them in Rio de Janeiro city and surrounding municipalities in the Baixada Fluminense region. CHILDREN’S RIGHTS Juvenile detention facilities remained overcrowded and detainees suffered inhuman and degrading conditions. In Ceará state, torture by state officials was recurrent inside juvenile detention facilities. During the year, there were at least 20 riots and 37 escapes from units in Ceará. Out of 200 formal reports of torture of adolescents inside juvenile detention units in Ceará between 2016 and September 2017, only two reports resulted in a formal inquiry by the state for further investigation. Reports of the chaotic state of the juvenile justice system in Ceará resulted in a formal visit by Brazil’s National Human Rights Council in September. Early in the year, Espirito Santo state held 1,198 juvenile detainees in a system with capacity for only 754, a rate of overcrowding of more than 39%. Of the state’s 13 detention facilities, only four were operating within their intended capacity. On 3 June, seven boys aged between 15 and 17 were killed by other teenage detainees during a riot in a juvenile detention facility in Lagoa Seca, Paraíba state. On 13 November, four young boys were killed by hooded men who entered a juvenile justice system facility where the boys were detained. 1. Brazil: Law leading to military impunity sanctioned (AMR 19/7340/2017) 2. Brazil: Police killings, impunity and attacks on defenders: Amnesty International submission for the UN Universal Periodic Review – 27th session of the UPR working group, May 2017 (AMR 19/5467/2016) 3. Brazil: Over 90 men killed in Brazilian prison riots (AMR 19/5444/2017) BRUNEI DARUSSALAM Brunei Darussalam Head of state and government: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Lack of transparency made independent monitoring of the human rights situation difficult. Phased amendments to the Shari’a Penal Code, if implemented, would provide for the death penalty and corporal punishment, such as caning and stoning which amount to torture and other illtreatment, for a range of offences. The amendments would further restrict the rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and discriminate against women. BACKGROUND Several amendments to the Shari’a Penal Code remained pending and were subject to phased implementation. Brunei completed phase one of the amendments which dealt with crimes punishable by prison sentences and fines. If implemented, phase two will cover crimes punishable by amputation; while phase three will deal with crimes carrying the penalty of stoning to death. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION On 27 July, government employee Shahiran Sheriffudin bin Shahrani Muhammad was removed from his post and charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act for posting comments on Facebook deemed “offensive” to the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Journalists and online activists continued to self-censor for fear of prosecution. WOMEN’S RIGHTS Shari’a Penal Code amendments included provisions which, if implemented, would further discriminate against women, including by criminalizing pregnancy outside marriage and forcing unmarried Muslim women to live in their guardian’s home. 102 Amnesty International Report 2017/18