Silvio Almeida is now not Brazil’s human rights minister. The choice comes after he was accused of sexual misconduct towards an undisclosed variety of victims — which would come with Anielle Franco, Brazil’s racial equality minister.

Brazil’s Presidential Ethics Committee will examine the sexual misconduct complaints. Federal Police Chief Andrei Rodrigues has additionally pledged to provoke an investigation.

Me Too Brazil, a corporation that helps victims of sexual violence, confirmed to press shops that it was contacted by ladies who reported alleged episodes of sexual harassment dedicated by Mr. Almeida. Metropoles, a information web site, talked to 14 people with knowledge of the allegations.

“The federal authorities acknowledges the seriousness of the allegations. The case is being dealt with with the rigor and pace that conditions involving attainable violence towards ladies require,” says a statement from the presidential workplace.

First Girl Rosângela da Silva on Friday published on Instagram a photograph with Ms. Franco, which many noticed as a sign that Mr. Almeida could also be on his means out of the federal government. That notion was consolidated after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said “it [was] not attainable” for somebody accused of sexual misconduct to stay within the authorities.

The Ladies’s Rights Ministry on Friday morning endorsed the investigations on Mr. Almeida.

Mr. Almeida “vehemently repudiated” all allegations in a statement of his personal. “There may be as soon as once more a gaggle attempting to erase and diminish our existence, attributing to me the conduct they carry. With that, Brazil, the human rights agenda, racial equality, and the Brazilian folks lose.”

The human rights minister mentioned he would search the court docket system to make clear the allegations from Me Too Brazil. “All allegations have to be investigated rigorously, however for that to occur, the details have to be uncovered. They usually should not be based mostly on lies, with out proof.”

The Human Rights Ministry has one of many smallest budgets throughout the authorities. Firstly of the yr, Mr. Almeida was criticized for failing to invest in areas he deemed as priorities when taking workplace — akin to defending marginalized teenagers and kids and selling LGBTQ rights.

His division did tally a current win, with the recreation of a commission on political disappearances.