Sexual corruption: A gendered and invisible form of corruption

First elucidated by the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) in 2008, sexual corruption involves the abuse of entrusted authority to solicit sexual favours in exchange for benefits or services tied to an official duty.f43f6f9f07be Unlike other forms of sexual abuse, it is characterised by its transactional nature: a quid pro quo dynamic rooted in power asymmetries and psychological coercion rather than physical force.03d703abb397 Also, differently from traditional corruption, it involves sexual rather than monetary transactions. In short, sexual corruption (often referred to as sextortion)50749cbc1e4e is at the intersection of corruption and gender-based violence and remains an under-recognised and understudied phenomenon in academic and policy arenas.f19cf6c80b18

Research and case studies have highlighted prevalent patterns in which sexual corruption manifests. In the public sector, bureaucrats may condition access to goods and services on sexual compliance.b96ee12035a6 In the education and police environments, teachers may demand sexual favours in exchange for grades, while police officers may request them to avoid fines or arrests.db8db2bea655 In the judicial and migration systems, documented cases show judges and immigration officers leveraging their authority to obtain sexual favours in exchange for favourable decisions.11cc217b3004 In the workplace, hierarchical power imbalances often lead to demands for sexual favours tied to hiring, promotions or job security.16058dd0e157 These patterns demonstrate that sexual corruption cuts across sectors and disproportionately affects women in vulnerable situations.

Despite its seriousness, the offence is difficult to detect, prosecute, and even define. Global data remains limited, with only recent efforts beginning to capture the prevalence of sexual corruption. The practice was recognised as a form of corruption by the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption only in 2023, and in 2019, Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer included the topic on their surveys for the first time.6403fd35bc25

In Brazil, one in five people report either experiencing or knowing someone who has experienced sexual extortion when accessing public services.0424faeb8ea0 Nonetheless, the country currently lacks a legal mechanism to address the issue. Existing legal frameworks, including anti-corruption and gender-based violence laws, have proven inadequate in handling the particularities of sexual corruption. An important step towards closing this gap was taken in late 2021 with the introduction of Bill 4534/21 in the Chamber of Deputies.b8f66c0092c8 The bill, which passed in the lower house in March 2023 and was under review in the Senate in 2025, proposes to criminalise conditioning official services or duties on sexual acts. The legislative proposal frames the offence as a crime against sexual dignity, signalling a shift from administrative integrity to the protection of sexual freedom. It also seeks to cover situations of sexual corruption in both public and private settings. However, until the bill is enacted into law, Brazil continues to operate without a legal tool to address this abuse.

This Practice Insight explores the legislative journey of Bill 4534/21 and the broader Brazilian legal framework in which it emerged. It explores existing provisions and jurisprudence, identifies the limitations of current laws in addressing sexual corruption, analyses the process behind the bill’s development, and makes recommendations for policymakers, advocates, and practitioners.

Brazilian legal framework and its limitations

Brazil currently lacks a legal provision that directly addresses sexual corruption. Although some court decisions have treated the exchange of sexual favours as an undue advantage within corruption statutes, the existing legal frameworks, whether anti-corruption or gender-based violence laws, remain ill-equipped to deal with the particularities of this conduct.

The Penal Code of Brazil is structured into distinct chapters, including crimes against public administration and crimes against sexual freedom. However, sexual corruption falls between these categories: it involves a violation of sexual autonomy, especially through psychological coercion rather than physical force. It also involves the abuse of entrusted power, such as an authority figure (such as a public official or teacher) leveraging their institutional position to demand sexual favours in exchange for access to benefits, services or goods.680946baabba In other words, the power ‘entrusted’ to the official by virtue of their role is misused for personal gain. Consequently, the transactional, coercive, and gendered dynamics that define sexual corruption are not fully addressed under either set of provisions: those governing crimes against sexual autonomy or crimes against public administration.

This section provides a concise overview of the relevant legal instruments, followed by an analysis of their limitations in addressing sexual corruption. In the absence of a targeted legal mechanism, victims are left in a grey area where protections are limited, accountability is rare and justice remains elusive.

Passive and active corruption: Crimes against public administration

Brazil’s primary anti-corruption legal framework consists of Articles 317 and 333 of the Penal Code, which criminalise passive and active corruption, respectively. These offences are legally distinct and independent. Passive corruption applies to public officials who solicit or accept undue advantages, while active corruption applies to a private party who offers or promises such advantages to a public official.

The limited jurisprudence available on cases resembling sexual corruption indicates that courts primarily apply passive corruption laws. Some rulings have explicitly interpreted sexual favours as a form of undue advantage (see section on jurisprudence below). However, treating sexual corruption under passive corruption laws presents serious limitations due to:

1. The bilateral logic inherent in corruption
2. The public administration having more legal protection than the victim
3. The criminal offence of passive corruption applying exclusively to public officials under Brazilian law

Following is more detail on each issue.

1) Traditionally, corruption crimes are conceptualised as bilateral exchanges involving a public official and a private party offering an undue advantage. However, in Brazilian law, passive and active corruption are treated as distinct offences and the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) clarified that this bilateral aspect is factual rather than legal.6fe7c5b22a20 This understanding means that even if, in practice, there are often two parties, the law does not require proving both sides of the exchange. A public official can be convicted of passive corruption even when no active corruptor has been identified, investigated or charged. Nonetheless, this bilateral framing still matters culturally. Because sexual corruption remains largely unrecognised, there is a risk that society and even victims themselves may wrongly interpret these cases as voluntary exchanges, reinforcing stigma and misunderstanding despite the law’s recognition of victims’ coercion.

2) There is legal precedent in which demanding sexual favours was interpreted as an ‘undue advantage’ under corruption law.d6f801582764 However, this statute is primarily designed to safeguard the integrity of public administration, placing the state as the main legal beneficiary. Consequently, the protection of the victim’s sexual autonomy and dignity, as well as their access to support and recovery, becomes secondary.

When such cases are prosecuted under passive corruption law, the primary objective remains the preservation of government integrity, often at the expense of acknowledging the harm suffered by the victim. Besides, in Brazil, passive corruption is a criminal offence that can only be committed by a public official against the public administration (i.e., against the integrity of the state). This means that the legal attention is on the misconduct of the official rather than the coercion and exploitation suffered by the victim.

This legal interpretation carries relevant consequences. As illustrated in the section on jurisprudence below, the impact on victims is frequently overlooked, as their suffering is not regarded as central to the offence. Furthermore, any financial penalties or reparations awarded under corruption laws benefit the state, leaving victims who endure direct harm without adequate legal remedies.

Additionally, because these cases fall under corruption statutes rather than gender-based violence, victims may face further distress and revictimisation in court. Thus, a gender perspective is needed, which would enable the effective application of National Council of Justice (CNJ) Resolution No. 492/2023. The Resolution mandates the use of the Protocol for Judging with a Gender Perspective, which fills a long-standing gap by guiding judges with theoretical and practical tools to apply gender-sensitive approaches across all areas of the judiciary.

3) The legal distinction between public and private spheres influences how corruption cases are prosecuted. Under the current legal framework, corruption is only criminalised when it involves public officials. In contrast, corruption only within the private sector is not classified as a criminal offence and is instead addressed through civil and administrative sanctions (see Box 1). This legal deficiency results in inconsistencies, as similar acts of sexual corruption may be treated differently depending on whether they occur in a public or private context. The absence of criminal liability for private-sector corruption leaves certain forms of misconduct, such as sexual corruption in non-public settings, without adequate accountability mechanisms, further complicating efforts to ensure justice for victims.

This legislative gap becomes particularly relevant for private institutions providing public goods and services, either on their own initiative or on behalf of governments, such as in public-private partnerships (PPPs). In these scenarios, private actors effectively wield public authority and control access to essential services, such as access to healthcare, water, and education.

Extortion: Crimes against public administration

Similar to passive corruption, extortion that involves the abuse of public office for personal gain is covered under Penal Code Article 316. However, the main distinction lies in the nature of the act: while passive corruption criminalises soliciting or receiving an undue advantage, extortion specifically refers to the act of demanding it.

Like corruption offences, the primary legal interest protected is the integrity of public administration. Therefore, classifying sexual corruption under extortion laws would be inappropriate, as the legal framework prioritises the misconduct of public officials rather than exploitation of victims. Additionally, extortion offences are limited to individuals who hold public positions, further restricting applicability to cases of sexual corruption.

Extortion: Crimes against property

Extortion as a criminal offence that involves anyone coercing someone, through violence or threats, into acting against their will for the perpetrator’s financial gain is covered under Penal Code Article 158. Since the law explicitly ties extortion to economic advantage, it does not cover situations where the undue advantage is sexual.

It is worth noting that a bill currently under discussion in the Chamber of Deputies seeks to criminalise sexually motivated extortion (Bill 2058/24). The bill introduces the term ‘sextortion’, but it differs from sexual corruption. Under this proposed legislation, sextortion is defined as the act of extorting or blackmailing someone by threatening to disclose intimate images or videos. This interpretation illustrates that, in Brazil, the term sextortion is associated with revenge porn and digital sexual extortion rather than corruption-based sexual abuse.

Rape: Crimes against sexual liberty

Within sexual violence crimes under Brazilian law, rape is the most severe, and it is covered under Penal Code Article 213. The law criminalises sexual acts committed through violence or serious threat. Nevertheless, this offence does not adequately encompass the dynamics of sexual corruption.

The core distinction lies in the absence of the ‘corruptive’ element in rape statutes, namely, the transactional abuse of authority involving the solicitation, offering or acceptance of sexual acts in exchange for goods, services or public benefits. In sexual corruption, coercion tends to be subtle. Instead of overt violence, perpetrators leverage their institutional power to exert pressure, not only through threats of withholding resources or services but also through promises of providing an advantage that they have the power to bestow. This power dynamic, where a sexual favour is the currency for a corrupt transaction, is what separates it from other sexual crimes.

The lack of physical force is a significant legal gap that can result in courts interpreting the victim’s compliance as valid consent, especially if the victim engaged in the sexual act in exchange for something the perpetrator had discretionary power to grant or deny. The unequal power dynamic at the heart of sexual corruption may be overlooked, leading to a failure to recognise the coercive context and, consequently, a failure to provide legal protection.

Rape by fraud: Crimes against sexual liberty

A less commonly known offence within Brazil’s sexual violence legislation is rape by fraud and is covered by Penal Code Article 215. It criminalises sexual acts carried out through fraud or other means that hinder the victim’s free will. Although it touches on consent, it typically refers to deception, such as impersonation or misleading the victim about the nature of the act. In contrast, sexual corruption involves coercion based on power rather than deceit. Because consent in sexual corruption is undermined by structural pressure, such as the need for a service rather than outright fraud, this legal category does not adequately address the dynamics.

Sexual harassment: Crimes against sexual liberty

Penal Code Article 216-A criminalises acts where someone uses their position of authority, through a job, role or function, to coerce another person into providing sexual favours. While the offence involves abuse of power, there are important differences from sexual corruption.

First, the definition of quid pro quo sexual harassment is specifically linked to the work environment.14b0d93bb193 It occurs when employment decisions are based on an employee’s acceptance or rejection of unwelcome sexual behaviour. In contrast, sexual corruption involves a broader abuse of entrusted authority, where a sexual favour is traded for a service, benefit or decision that the official controls.

Following this logic, sexual harassment applicability under Brazilian law is limited to two types of hierarchical relationships: employer-employee or teacher-student.aaa4bf2d686e Therefore, many instances of sexual corruption would fall outside this narrow scope. For example, a public official demanding sexual favours from a citizen in exchange for a service or benefit would not be covered by the sexual harassment statute, as their relationship does not fit these two categories. Also, the offence carries light penalties: a detention sentence of a maximum of two years, which is usually converted into other penalties, such as community service or rights restrictions.

Jurisprudence: How Brazilian courts are dealing with sexual corruption

Despite the lack of formal legal recognition for sexual corruption in Brazilian law, a few judicial decisions reveal how courts navigate cases of exchanges of sexual favours and entrusted power dynamics. These cases are handled through existing legal provisions mostly under passive corruption, administrative improbity, rape by fraud or sexual harassment.

In one notable case, the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF1) addressed the conduct of a doctor who solicited sexual favours in exchange for a favourable medical report for a social security benefits applicant.41b3c7431b8b The court classified the conduct as passive corruption, treating the request for sexual favours as an ‘undue advantage’. Although this case marked an important precedent by recognising sexual favours within the scope of corruption, the appellate court’s decision to reduce the sentence, citing the defendant’s lack of direct financial gain revealed an implicit hierarchy of corruption types. The court appeared to place less gravity on sexual exploitation compared to monetary corruption.

Similarly, another case resulted in a lighter conviction on appeal because the offender did not misappropriate funds. It involved a local public officer who solicited sexual favours from women in exchange for daycare placements and public jobs.beab66014f84 The public prosecutor brought both criminal and administrative improbity charges. The criminal court convicted the defendant of rape by deception, recognising that victims’ consent was manipulated through false promises. Meanwhile, the civil court relied on the Administrative Improbity Act (Law 8.429/92), determining that the conduct violated the principles of morality and legality in public administration. While both courts acknowledged the abuse of authority, the penalty imposed in the administrative case was reduced on appeal from a fine of 30 times the defendant’s salary to only five with the justification that the defendant did not commit misappropriation of funds.

These first two cases indicate a troubling lack of gender responsiveness. By penalising the corruption of a public act through sexual means less severely than through financial means, the judiciary risks trivialising violence disproportionately experienced by women and perpetuating the harmful notion that women’s bodily autonomy has less value than financial integrity. The courts’ emphasis on the absence of direct financial gain to justify lighter sentences fundamentally misses the point: the ‘gain’ is the sexual gratification and assertion of power over a vulnerable person, and the ‘loss’ is not to a treasury, but to a victim’s dignity, bodily integrity and right to equal access of public services. A gender-responsive approach would recognise that sexual corruption is not a lesser form of corruption, but a distinctly gendered one, requiring sanctions that reflect its unique and severe harm.

A third case before the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF4) involved a university professor who was convicted of sexual molestation and harassment. He promised scholarships and publications to pressure a student into unwanted physical contact.414f316c8f8b Despite the serious abuse of academic power, the court opted for alternative sanctions including community service, loss of public office and a temporary ban from managing scholarship programmes. This illustrates how common it is for sexual harassment convictions to result in alternative penalties.

Finally, in a case decided by the CNJ, a health centre director was removed from office following several complaints of sexual and moral harassment against female subordinates.30c3669093df In parallel, the official was also criminally accused of passive corruption, having allegedly demanded sexual favours in exchange for maintaining or improving working conditions. While the CNJ’s administrative procedure resulted in the official’s dismissal and a five-year ban from public office, in the ongoing criminal case, the prosecutor requested compensation not only for the state, as is typical in corruption cases, but also for the individual female employees who were directly targeted. This approach implicitly recognises women as secondary victims – individuals who experienced professional and psychological damage because of the director’s conduct. It marks a subtle but significant shift in how such cases may be framed: not only as infractions against the public administration, but also as violations of individual rights and sexual dignity. In doing so, the prosecution seeks to uphold the integrity of public office and secure reparations for specific harms endured by harassed employees. This dual concern could signal a gradual broadening of how sexual corruption is understood and litigated within Brazil’s legal system.

Across these cases, courts have creatively used available legal tools to address conduct that fits the definition of sexual corruption. However, in the absence of a specific offence, cases are fragmented across administrative law, corruption statutes and sexual crime provisions, each with different standards of evidence and harm assessment. Most decisions centred on the breach of public duty, protecting the state rather than the victim’s sexual dignity. Penalties were reduced when sexual favours, rather than financial bribes, were the undue advantage, indicating a lack of parity and gender responsiveness in the judicial treatment of non-monetary corruption. This reinforces the need for legislative reform recognising sexual corruption as a distinct form of corruption, grounded in power asymmetries and victim vulnerability, not just institutional integrity.

The legislative process of the sexual corruption bill

Challenges and opportunities in the drafting phase

Bill 4534/21, which was proposed by a centre-left congresswoman in late 2021, seeks to criminalise sexual corruption and was developed within a broader legislative initiative known as the anti-corruption package. A major motivation in drafting the bill was the recognition that corruption has gendered dimensions, which are frequently overlooked in standard anti-corruption frameworks. This perspective informed the investigation of gendered forms of corruption, with sexual corruption standing out as a particularly harmful and under-addressed practice.

The early stages of drafting were marked by technical and political uncertainties. One of the central challenges was the lack of empirical data on the prevalence or characteristics of sexual corruption in Brazil. Although a 2019 Transparency International survey reported that 20% of Brazilians had either personally experienced or knew someone who had experienced sexual extortion when accessing public services,5c2b692dc711 these data were not widely known in policymaking debates.The scarcity of empirical data and legal precedents made it difficult to define the problem in legal terms and predict the potential impact of legislation.

Legal consultants and criminal law experts questioned whether the proposed conduct already fell under existing offences such as corruption, sexual harassment or abuse of authority. They argued that adding a new criminal type risked exacerbating the overpopulation of the Penal Code of Brazil, leading to legal redundancy and overlapping statutes. Some suggested that other tools, such as prevention through education or public awareness campaigns, could be more appropriate in addressing the issue without expanding criminal law. There was also uncertainty about how to classify the offence: either as an aggravating circumstance under existing law or as an entirely new type of crime.

These technical debates carried political implications. Introducing a poorly defined or redundant criminal type could damage the credibility of the broader legislative initiative, attract criticism from legal scholars or lead to judicial resistance. There was also concern about inadvertently creating a law that could misidentify the victim as a participant in corruption – a risk associated with the current legal framing of corruption, which penalises both the offering and receiving parties.

Under many uncertainties, at some point, the idea of criminalising sexual corruption was nearly abandoned. However, the drafting group ultimately concluded that failure to act would perpetuate injustice and invisibility around a deeply harmful practice. The decision to propose a new crime reflected an effort to address an intersectional harm that traditional frameworks had so far failed to capture.

Despite these challenges, several opportunities enabled the bill to move forward. First, the issue was framed as addressing a clear legislative gap: neither corruption laws nor sexual violence statutes were adequate to capture the specific nature of sexual corruption, which exists at the intersection of abuse of authority and sexual violence. This reframing helped build the case for a new criminal type, one that recognised the asymmetry of power and the sexual quid pro quo dynamic.

Consultations with academic and legal experts helped clarify the conceptual boundaries of the offence and differentiate it from existing legal categories. Discussions also highlighted that under current law, victims of sexual corruption could potentially be criminalised for ‘participating’ in corrupt exchanges, especially if the conduct were interpreted solely through corruption statutes. Similarly, sexual harassment provisions were found inadequate because they did not account for the coercive leverage tied to public service access.

Consequently, the drafting team opted to propose a new offence that criminalised the act of ‘conditioning the performance of official duties or services on sexual activity’. The final draft was accompanied by a technical note outlining the rationale for the legal innovation. It drew on definitions from the IAWJ and cited global recommendations from Transparency International, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group.

Lessons learned

• Absence of data and case documentation limits legislative innovation. The lack of national data made it difficult to define the legal problem, justify its urgency or anticipate enforcement challenges. Even strong normative arguments struggled to gain traction without a clear empirical foundation. Future efforts in similar areas and other countries would benefit from empirical research and data collection efforts prior to or alongside legislative development.
• Formalist interpretations that favour established norms often constrain legal innovation, even when those norms are ill-equipped to deal with new or intersectional harms. The debate around whether a new penal type was necessary exemplified this tension. Besides, technical legitimacy matters. Even when a bill addresses a clear injustice, it must meet the standards of legal coherence and compatibility with the broader penal system.
• Early resistance can be constructive. While initial pushback from legal experts delayed the process, it also prompted deeper analysis and ultimately strengthened the final draft. The outcome benefitted from a more rigorous understanding of the legal and social dynamics and from a clearer articulation of why a specific legislative intervention was necessary.

Advocacy strategy and political dynamics

Following the proposal of Bill 4534/21, the challenge shifted from technical formulation to political support. As with many legislative efforts that address sensitive or lesser-known issues, the path to approval required strategic framing, alliance building and advocacy within institutional channels.

The bill’s top-down origin was one of its defining features. While it emerged from a thorough process of research and technical consultation, it was not mobilised by civil society or grassroots movements. This absence posed challenges when it came to generating external pressure or public engagement, which are often helpful in fast-tracking or legitimising legislative proposals. With little visibility in the broader public debate, the advocacy efforts necessarily looked inward on parliamentary strategy and institutional dynamics.

The bill’s multiparty co-authorship was an early advantage. The inclusion of parliamentarians from across the political spectrum offered a foundation for a broader coalition, particularly within the congressional women’s caucus. Framing the issue as corruption rather than primarily a gender matter helped draw support beyond the typical parliamentarians concerned with women’s rights.

A milestone in the bill’s progress was strategic advocacy with the Committee on Constitution, Justice and Citizenship (CCJC), the most influential committee in the legislative process. The bill’s author successfully secured an ally as the rapporteur: a respected congresswoman with long-standing experience in human rights and gender issues and strong political connections within the Chamber of Deputies. Her support for the proposal facilitated the bill’s approval at the committee stage, smoothing negotiations. Throughout this process, the bill’s drafters engaged in technical dialogue with the rapporteur’s advisers, clarifying the proposal’s objectives and legal distinctions. This engagement revealed an important challenge when legislating around underreported phenomena: the lack of conceptual understanding and empirical grounding can delay or derail support if not carefully addressed.

The efforts resulted in a favourable report approved in June 2022. To underscore the legitimacy and urgency of addressing sexual corruption as a public integrity issue, the report cited an article published by El País.e71fd338bc4f This demonstrated how media visibility and expert engagement can support parliamentary advocacy by offering accessible references and reinforcing the relevance of the proposal. The importance of media presence was an important takeaway from this phase. While public mobilisation was absent, the issue’s appearance in respected international and national media increased its credibility and policy salience.

Another strategic moment came with the decision from the bill’s author to request urgency status for the proposal. The request was approved on International Women’s Day in 2023. This timing was no coincidence. The bancada feminina, a cross-party group of congresswomen, coordinated the approval of a set of bills related to gender issues during that day’s plenary session. Bill 4534/21 was bundled into this broader agenda, which allowed it to benefit from the symbolic momentum and political will associated with International Women’s Day. This political synchronisation created a window of opportunity: although the topic was unfamiliar to many legislators, the broader framing of the agenda as a gender equity push provided a favourable environment for approval. The bill was passed by the Chamber of Deputies later that day.

While the bill addressed a practice that disproportionately affects women, it was not framed primarily as a gender justice proposal. Instead, it emphasised punishing the act of conditioning a public service or official duty on the performance of sexual acts, highlighting the abuse of power and distortion of public functions. The dual framing contributed to the bill’s broad acceptance across the political spectrum. The proposal was approved without opposition, with votes in favour from both left and right parties.

During the plenary debate, deputies from different ideological backgrounds spoke in support of the bill. Representatives from the Workers’ Party (PT), associated with President Lula, emphasised themes such as sexual dignity and the protection of women’s rights. Meanwhile, members of the Liberal Party (PL), aligned with former President Bolsonaro, echoed concerns about corruption and abuse of public office, even suggesting the use of sexual corruption to describe the crime. At the time, the bill still used the term sextortion, and the legal text referred to the criminalisation of conditioning a public duty on the provision of sexual acts. Across the spectrum, deputies acknowledged that although women are the majority of victims, the practice can affect people of all genders.

Still, the top-down nature of the initiative limited the scope for broader mobilisation or popular advocacy, which may have prevented sustained momentum beyond the Chamber. The bill’s status, awaiting deliberation in the Senate, reflects this challenge. Without visible societal demand, and given the unawareness among political actors and legal institutions, the process risks stagnation.

Lessons learned

• Framing matters. Framing the proposal both as a gender and corruption issue helps increase political support. In Brazil, this multidimensional framing was crucial to building a multiparty coalition.
• Strategic timing opens political windows. Linking the vote to International Women’s Day and embedding the bill within a broader legislative agenda created a favourable political opportunity that facilitated its approval.
• Media visibility supports political traction. In the absence of widespread public pressure, expert commentary and credible media coverage play an important role in legitimising issues. Visibility in trusted outlets helps shape parliamentary discourse.
• Parliamentary advocacy hinges on technical clarity and backstage work. When concepts are novel or ambiguous, legal precision must be paired with accessible explanations. Engaging parliamentarians and staff behind the scenes is essential for building understanding and support.
• Success is linked to sponsors in Congress investing political capital and driving the bill forward through the legislative process. This includes seeking out cross-party allies and negotiating for supportive rapporteurs. Political champions in the legislature, especially those with influence and good relations in the legislative house, are crucial to navigating political hurdles.
• Naming the offence and providing specific examples is essential for effective communication. While the formal penal type criminalises the conditioning of an official duty on sexual acts, referring to the practice in public discourse as sexual corruption makes the issue more comprehensible and accessible to the public and policymakers. Similarly, providing concrete, empirical examples facilitates understanding and support.

Status: Stalled momentum in the Senate

Following its unanimous approval in the Chamber of Deputies, the bill entered the Senate in March 2023 and was assigned to the Committee on Constitution and Justice (CCJ) for deliberation. Despite the initial momentum, the proposal has since stalled. Since 2023, the bill has seen two rapporteurs appointed, yet neither has moved it forward. As of June 2025, the bill remains pending the designation of a new rapporteur. This prolonged inactivity reflects an institutional inertia.

The lack of legislative priority is a challenge. Unlike in the Chamber, where the bill was advanced under the symbolic momentum of International Women’s Day and supported by a coordinated cross-party strategy, no equivalent push has materialised in the Senate.The issue has struggled to gain traction, partly due to limited understanding of its relevance and scope among politicians, legal practitioners and society in general. The scarcity of data on prevalence, affected populations and social dynamics compounds this challenge. Misunderstandings persist, with some policymakers conflating the proposed crime with sexual harassment, thereby underestimating its distinctiveness as both a corruption and gender offence.

Although the bill faced no political resistance during its passage in the lower house, its stalled journey in the Senate suggests the topic lacks the institutional maturity to advance. This stagnation appears less a sign of ideological opposition and more a reflection of the issue’s absence from the political agenda. Placing it there would likely require a political champion or sustained pressure from civil society, the media and the broader public to generate the impetus needed for legislative action.

Lessons learned

• Civil society engagement remains a gap. The lack of civil mobilisation meant the bill lacked external pressure and sustained public attention, potentially limiting its momentum in subsequent legislative stages. When introducing novel legal concepts, public misunderstanding can be a major obstacle. Without widespread awareness, advocates may face the costly burden of defending a proposal that is not yet part of the mainstream agenda. Clear, proactive communication strategies are essential, even if difficult, to prevent misinformation and build public support.
• The absence of reliable data, media coverage and public pressure allows important but low-profile issues like sexual corruption fall off the agenda. To build legislative maturity around such topics, continuous advocacy, framing clarity, and real-life cases remain fundamental beyond initial wins. Final legislative approval is not only about identifying a legal gap, but also about political coordination and public agenda priorities.

From conceptualisation to lawmaking: Final reflections

A fundamental challenge in addressing sexual corruption lies in its conceptualisation. The conduct combines elements of corruption and sexual violence, yet it does not fit neatly within either legal framework. In Brazil, the legislator had to decide under which legal domain the new offence should be placed. The proposal was ultimately framed as a crime against sexual dignity – a choice that contrasts, for instance, with Tanzania, where sexual corruption was incorporated under the country’s anti-corruption statute.9c1891015c28

The Brazilian decision was grounded in an important legal and normative objective: to establish the victim’s sexual freedom as the primary protected right, rather than prioritising the protection of the public administration’s integrity. This framing enables the adoption of gender-sensitive protocols and reinforces a victim-centred approach. It also excludes the possibility of criminalising the victim. However, in public discourse, academic debates and awareness campaigns, a different perspective may be more appropriate. Following Bjarnegård et al. (2025), this report argues for understanding sexual corruption primarily as an abuse of entrusted power, shifting attention from the victim to the perpetrator’s misuse of authority.

This distinction highlights a feature of lawmaking: legal frameworks often operate passively, emphasising primarily who or what is being protected. From this perspective, the Brazilian legislative choice was technically sound, but each country’s legislators must decide which framework best fits their legal and social context. Yet, this legal technicality need not dictate how we discuss, research or advocate around the issue. In public and academic contexts, a more active framing (one that centres the perpetrator’s abuse of power) can foster deeper understanding, reduce victim-blaming and strengthen prevention strategies.

Towards a comprehensive response

The criminalisation of sexual corruption represents an important step towards addressing a long-standing legal gap. While raising awareness of sexual corruption in the absence of legislation is possible, without a clear legal framework, victims may report into a vacuum, with little legal clarity on how their cases will be handled.0c9f8b8ee269

Brazil’s proposed bill contributes to filling this gap by defining sexual corruption as a distinct offence and establishing sexual freedom as the protected legal right. However, criminalisation alone is insufficient. Without complementary measures, the law risks having limited impact on access to justice and victim protection.

The actors responsible for interpreting, enforcing, and applying the law must be aware and prepared for the legislation to achieve its intended objectives. Judicial officials, prosecutors, and police personnel need targeted training, sensitisation, and structured debates to strengthen their understanding of sexual corruption and its gendered dimensions. A complementary policy involves the strengthening and expansion of specialised women’s police stations (delegacias da mulher). These units, designed to handle gender-based violence cases with greater sensitivity, have been linked to increased trust in law enforcement and a reduction in gender gaps in perceptions of police effectiveness.e406abaec1e9

Beyond legislative change, effectively tackling sexual corruption requires a broader policy and institutional strategy. This report explored the emergence of sexual corruption as a pressing policy challenge in Brazil, analysing its legal framework and legislative responses. It traced the development of Bill 4534/21, the Brazilian attempt to criminalise the conditioning of official duties on sexual acts, within broader institutional challenges.

The analysis revealed that Brazil’s existing frameworks, both anti-corruption and gender-based violence laws, are ill-suited to address the particularities of sexual corruption, leaving victims without adequate protection. Judicial practice has resorted to creative but fragmented applications of corruption, sexual violence and administrative laws, often sidelining the victims’ experiences.

Through the case study of Bill 4534/21, the report documented challenges faced during the drafting and advocacy processes: lack of data, conceptual ambiguity, legal formalism and political inertia. It also highlighted strategic enablers of progress, including targeted framing, media engagement, political sponsorship and the strategic use of symbolic political windows.

Ultimately, raising awareness, enacting a law and institutional capacity-building must go hand in hand. Criminalisation establishes a necessary foundation, but without complementary actions in training, victim-centred support and sensitive reporting mechanisms, the law risks being underused or misapplied. Brazil’s legislative initiative is a relevant step, but its success depends on embedding it in a comprehensive policy framework.

Recommendations for policymakers, advocates, and practitioners working on sexual corruption

1. Invest in research and data collection

Sexual corruption remains invisible partly due to the scarcity of reliable data. Both quantitative and qualitative research are crucial to understand how, where, and under what conditions sexual corruption occurs, who the victims and perpetrators are, and how the phenomenon is perceived by different sectors, including the general public, policymakers, and legal practitioners. Without this empirical foundation, efforts to design targeted policies or strengthen legal frameworks risk being perceived as unnecessary or unjustified.

A promising practice can be seen in Argentina, where the organisation Poder Ciudadano has launched Reportar, a public platform that maps cases of sexual corruption anonymously to increase visibility. Such observatories can serve as powerful tools for raising awareness and informing evidence-based policy. Also, collaborative research that engage academia, civil society organisations and public sector integrity departments can broaden impact, strengthen credibility and produce actionable knowledge. Another good example is the work of Proética in Peru, which, since 2012, has been collecting information and publishing reports on the intersection of gender and corruption. More recently, the organisation has included survey questions specifically addressing sexual corruption.af4730bc2c62

2. Establish a clear legal framework while enhancing capacity across the justice system

Criminalisation is essential to prevent a reporting vacuum and provide a solid legal basis for corrective action. However, legislation alone is not enough. For the law to be effective, it must be accompanied by awareness-raising and capacity-building initiatives on the intersection between gender and corruption targeting judges, prosecutors, public defenders, police officers and other justice-sector actors. Additionally, studies and surveys should be conducted by relevant government bodies, such as the federal Public Prosecutor’s Office or the Office of the Comptroller General, ideally in collaboration with specialised agencies, such as Transparency International or UNODC. Without these complementary measures, victims may continue to face barriers to reporting, and the law’s protective and deterrent effects risk being undermined.

3. Foster joint action between gender and anti-corruption communities

Given that sexual corruption cuts across gender violence and corruption, initiatives must link organisations and experts from both fields. Greater collaboration between gender-focused organisations and anti-corruption actors is essential to build a holistic understanding of the problem and craft solutions that address both dimensions.

Treating sexual corruption solely as a sexual violence issue or solely as an integrity threat risks further weakening political and social traction. Instead, joint efforts can strengthen advocacy, improve the quality of data collected, and foster a more comprehensive public debate and awareness. Bridging traditionally separate communities also unlocks new partnerships and broader policy windows.

4. Frame sexual corruption as both a corruption and gender-based violence issue

How sexual corruption is framed significantly affects its political viability. Positioning it simultaneously as a violation of sexual freedom and an abuse of entrusted power strengthens its resonance across ideological divides. This dual framing allows actors from diverse backgrounds, whether motivated by gender equality or institutional integrity, to find common ground.

The Brazilian experience shows that combining the urgency of combating violence against women with the political weight of anti-corruption discourse can increase visibility and build multiparty coalition. Aligning messaging with these two salient issues is promising because they are prominent in public discourse and political agendas. By contrast, overly technical or narrow messaging risks alienating potential allies and underestimating the issue’s broader societal impact.

5. Raise awareness through media and public discussion

Media visibility is essential to overcome the silence surrounding sexual corruption. Expert commentary, investigative journalism and opinion pieces in traditional and alternative media channels help position the issue as a legitimate public concern deserving political attention.

However, assuming the topic will gain attention on its own should be avoided. Proactive engagement with journalists, communication campaigns and partnerships with media outlets are necessary to ensure the topic does not remain confined to niche circles. Linking sexual corruption to broader discussions about public service quality, integrity, and women’s rights can also help increase salience and societal urgency.

6. Build political awareness and secure strategic sponsors

Building political support requires sustained efforts to sensitise lawmakers. Lack of familiarity with sexual corruption remains one of the greatest barriers to legislative progress. Often, once legislators better understand the dynamics and harms, support emerges. Nonetheless, technical merit or moral arguments alone are insufficient. Success depends on securing political sponsors such as legislators willing to champion the issue, invest political capital and actively push proposals through institutional channels. In Brazil, the role of the bill’s author was decisive in seeking out allies, negotiating for supportive rapporteurs and securing inclusion in the legislative agenda.

The difficulty in engaging subsequent champions, however, often stems from the issue’s absence from the political priority list. Without perception of political payoff or public demand, even sympathetic legislators may hesitate to invest their limited capital.

Therefore, to ensure sustained momentum, a diverse group of actors, including civil society, the media, legal experts and policymakers, should collaborate to adapt advocacy strategies as the legislative process evolves.