At UN, Michelle Bachelet Once Again Denounces Fires in Amazonia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL –  At the opening of the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, on Monday, September 9th, high commissioner Michelle Bachelet once again denounced deforestation in the Amazon. According to the former Chilean president, the intense fires that have been going on for weeks could have catastrophic consequences for the whole of humanity.

The inaugural speech of the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council focused on the environment and Brazil was one of the 40 countries cited by Bachelet. “I am deeply concerned about the dramatic acceleration of deforestation in the Amazon,” the high commissioner said in front of a crowded room.

“The fires that are currently devastating the Amazon rainforest may have catastrophic consequences for humanity as a whole, but the worst effects are suffered by women, men, and children living in these areas – among them, many indigenous communities,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“Fire is devastating our forests (…). We are literally burning our future,” she said. According to her, this situation affects economies globally, of all people and of future generations. “This is a situation in which no country, no institution, no ruler can be left on the sidelines,” she reiterated.

According to her, “the total number of deaths and damages in recent weeks in Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil may never be known. That is why Bachelet appealed to “these countries’ authorities to ensure the implementation of long-term environmental policies and an incentive system for sustainable management, thus avoiding future tragedies”.

Defense of indigenous peoples and environmentalists

The UN High Commissioner also stressed the need to defend indigenous peoples, “marginalized and discriminated against”. According to Bachelet, it is essential for governments to recognize the structural factors that are undermining these communities and to seek solutions, allocating resources to guarantee their rights and access to social protection.

In her speech, the former Chilean president also expressed her concern over the attacks on environmental and human rights activists, “particularly in Latin America”. “I am saddened by this violence, and also by verbal attacks against young environmentalists, like Greta Thunberg and others, who encourage support against the damage that their generations will have to bear. (…) We must respect, protect and guarantee their rights”.

Alert to Brazil

Much of the high commissioner’s speech is regarded as a sort of alert to Brazil, in a campaign to be re-elected to one of the 47 seats on the UN Human Rights Council. Bachelet’s considerations come two weeks before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, at which the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, will speak and is expected to make a statement on the fires in the Amazon.

Bachelet’s speech on the situation in the Amazon rainforest also comes five days after she expressed her concern over the reduction of democratic space and the increase in police violence in Brazil. The statements, at a press conference in Geneva, prompted an immediate reaction from Jair Bolsonaro, who accused the high commissioner of “meddling in internal affairs and Brazilian sovereignty”.