[3][4][5] After Brazil's military dictatorship disappeared her husband, the former federal deputy Rubens Paiva, without a word as to his whereabouts, Eunice confronted a dire need to support herself and her children; she enrolled and graduated from the Faculty of Law at Mackenzie Presbyterian University, then built a career as a prominent advocate for the human rights of the victims of political repression, doggedly campaigned to open the military dictatorship's closed records, and then championed the rights of Brazil's indigenous peoples.

[6][7][8] Eunice Paiva spent her childhood in Brás, a traditional neighborhood of São Paulo, where she lived among the Italian-Brazilian community that came to Brazil at the beginning of the 20th century.

[8] Living on oceanfront Avenida Delfim Moreira in Rio de Janeiro's Leblon neighborhood, Eunice, Rubens and their children enjoyed a comfortable life.

[17][18][19][20] With her husband disappeared, Eunice was unable to support her family in Rio de Janeiro; she returned with her children to São Paulo where, in 1973, she re-enrolled at Mackenzie University to study law, graduating at the age of 47.

[8] Indefatigable in her search for information on her husband's whereabouts, Eunice Paiva led campaigns to open archives on the victims of the military regime, becoming a symbol of the fight against the dictatorship.

[21] Due to her determination and criticism of the dictatorship, she and her children were watched by military agents from 1971 until 1984, as evidenced in documents from the National Intelligence Service (SNI) that were made public in 2013.