Last Thursday, 5.feb.2026, Transparência Brasil and 16 other organizations sent a joint letter to the Civil House rejecting the federal government’s attack on Transparency International Brazil. For the organizations, the Executive’s action “departs from republican principles and mimics the modus operandi of non-democratic regimes”.

In January 2026, the Civil House released a press release in response to TI’s technical study on transparency failures in the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), in which it refers to the entity as an “NGO investigated by the Federal Police” without there being any public record of the investigation.

This reference is considered serious by the organizations, as it is either false information disseminated by the state, or confidential information about an investigation that has not been made public. In both cases, this conduct “sends an alarming signal to civil society organizations whose aim is to promote social control of the government,” according to the organizations.

In addition, the joint letter states that the attack not only disqualifies the institution making the criticism, but also diverts the focus from the study’s conclusions and recommendations, ignoring an opportunity to strengthen governance and mitigate the risk of deviations in the PAC.

The organizations recommend that the Civil House provide clarifications on the note, retract its content and that the federal government reaffirm its commitment to protecting civic space and the independent work of civil society organizations.

Signatories:

1. Transparência Brasil
2. Transparência Capixaba
3. Central das Emendas
4. Institute of Collective Law – IDC
5. PonteAponte
6. MCCE – Movement to Combat Electoral Corruption
7. Fiquem Sabendo
8. Honório – Archival Public Policy Research Group
9. Instituto Nossa Ilhéus (INI)
10. Forum on the Right of Access to Public Information
11. Mato Grosso Social Observatory
12. Livres
13. Marajó Observatory
14. School of Democracy
15. Cordial Networks
16. Sivis Institute
17. Petrópolis Center for the Defense of Human Rights – CDDH