Indigenous leaders Almir Surui and Raoni Metuktire have come together to present a formal request to the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in the Dutch city of The Hague, to investigate far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro for committing crimes against humanity, specifically targeting indigenous peoples, within the broader context of environmental crimes. With the assistance of William Bourdon, a French attorney, they officially filed a request for preliminary investigation into Bolsonaro’s crimes to the ICC on January 22, 2021. They are accusing Bolsonaro of crimes against humanity, including also ecocide. Ecocide refers to a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, committed in the broader context of environmental crimes.

On August 5, 2021, the Brazil’s Indigenous People Articulation (ABIP), a coalition of Indigenous associations across the country, filed a second statement before the ICC, accusing Bolsonaro’s government of genocide and crimes against humanity due to its role in alleged crimes perpetrated against their community during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to claims by the indigenous tribes, Jair Bolsonaro was responsible for more than 1,160 deaths.

We also want to point to the Belo Monte hydroelectric complex in Brazil which has been approved in 2005 despite the absence of the legally required environmental impact assessment and consultations with affected indigenous communities. Netzdemo Portal protests against Belo Monte and other mega dams in the Amazon region – you can become a part of it:

http://kaltech11.bravesites.com/action

At the climate conference COP26, Brazil signed the Glasgow declaration on forests and pledged to rein in illegal deforestation by 2028. But critics noted the declaration isn’t legally binding and that the Bolsonaro administration has been effectively legalizing deforestation that was once considered illegal, undercutting its commitment. Deforestation has been on an upward trend in the Brazilian Amazon since 2012. It has accelerated sharply under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, who campaigned for opening up the rainforest to loggers, miners, ranchers, and industrial agriculture.

Belo Monte mega dam is being built on a river that runs almost dry a large part
of the year. This will be a very inefficient project – running at 10% of its
capacity during the driest months. The energy produced will go to mines that extract
resources that are then shipped to other countries. About 30 percent of the produced
energy will go to support the mining industry, while 70 percent of the energy produced
by the dam will go to households hundreds of miles away from the Xingu River. There is
no stopping this dam now. It has been approved by a short-sighted government that insists
this is the only solution to the energy needs of the country.

Norte Energia company, the concession-holder for the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam,
now control the water flow in the Volta Grande stretch of the Xingu River, a 100-km
area divided in three municipalities, with five indigenous villages along the riverbanks.
By opening or closing spillways and activating or shutting off its turbines, Norte Energia
dictates the water level downstream in the Xingu River. It’s clear that they do it without
considering the human and environmental impacts. Abrupt fluctuations in the volume of water
released in the Volta Grande due to the opening of spillways causes changes in the water
level in the river that confuse the aquatic fauna, disoriented by the availability of space
to feed and breed, according to ecologist Juarez Pezzuti, a professor at the Federal University of
Pará. Moreover, the reduced water flow has made navigation difficult in the Volta Grande,
the traditional transport route used by local people, increasing the need for land transport.

Vale, who owns aluminum and iron ore smelters nearby and is a 9% stakeholder in Norte Energia,
will purchase Belo Monte’s energy to fuel its mining expansion in the region. The energy would
also go to fuel the powerful industrial sector in south-east Brazil, which consumes 28.6% of
all electricity in the country, mainly in São Paulo and Minas Gerais.

Read more: Belo Monte Campaign blog by Netzdemo Portal.