Hundreds protested religious intolerance in Brazil on Sunday, noting a recent rise in discrimination against minority religions. Prominent figures at the protest included recently appointed Human Rights Minister Macaé Evaristo.

This year alone, complaints of religious intolerance in Brazil surged by 80% according to a government complaint service cited by local media.

Religious freedom is enshrined in Chapter I Article 5 of the Brazilian Constitution and there are criminal penalties in place for religious intolerance. The law currently provides for prison sentences of up to five years for perpetrators of crimes related to religious intolerance.

While believers of more than a dozen religions participated, there was a focus on practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions which particularly have faced a rise in attacks from members of certain evangelical Christian organizations. According to a paper by Professor Vagner Gonçalves da Silva, neo-Pentecostal churches in particular pursue a practice of spreading their faith among non-believers which can be accompanied by intolerant acts and crimes towards other religious groups. This can include verbal abuse, discrimination and even the destruction of religious sites and expulsion from neighborhoods.

Under international law, freedom of religion and belief is enshrined under Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and article 18 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. Brazil has ratified all of these agreements, so the state is bound by international law to protect the religious freedom of its citizens.