RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A group of attorneys who practice international law and lawyers for human rights and the environment, will file a complaint against the president of Brazil for crimes against humanity and the environment at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands. Bolsonaro could be indicted for delay in trying to combat the fires ravaging the Amazon.
“We analyzed the case and concluded that this year’s damage to the Amazon could be seen as a result of Bolsonaro’s irresponsible statements, as well as a consequence of the dismantling of environmental agencies and state policies aimed to protect social and environmental rights,” lawyer Eloísa Machado told the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
“Bolsonaro’s attacks on research organizations, environmentalists, non-governmental organizations and environmental enforcement agencies have been a safe conduct for criminal action against the environment”, she added.
Potentially criminal actions against the environment will be evaluated by the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Court of Justice since 2016, although the Rome Treaty itself does not specify ecocide as a justiciable crime. According to the lawyer, if the ICC condemns Bolsonaro, the rest of the world will see that Brazil’s president is indifferent and disrespectful towards domestic and international laws.
“Allowing the destruction of the Amazon rainforest has a double impact: local, because it is a violation of the rights of indigenous peoples who live in the forest and who depend on it both for their livelihood and for their physical and spiritual well-being; and there is the global impact, as the Amazon supplies oxygen to the world and plays a crucial role regarding temperature regulation, influencing the world climate and the circulation of ocean currents”, says French lawyer Valérie Cabanes, a human rights activist.