RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A group of Brazilian lawyers lodged this Thursday, November 28th, at the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICC), in The Hague, a complaint against President Jair Bolsonaro for incitement to the genocide of indigenous Brazilians.
In the vast documentation, activists linked to the Arns Commission and the Human Rights Advocacy Collective (Cadhu) allege that the President has undermined the control and inspection bodies, dismissed researchers, and was flagrantly neglectful in his handling of environmental crimes in the Amazon.
The region is facing a wave of forest fires that have led to one of the country’s leading environmental crises. Furthermore, his statements against the indigenous peoples would supposedly encourage the extermination of this population.
The experts turned to the ICC as a last resort, claiming there is negligence on the part of the Brazilian authorities in investigating the alleged crimes committed by the president.
“The choice of a prosecutor general [Aras] in line with his anti-rights agenda and some attempts the president made to interfere with the PF’s (Federal Police) command show that there is no favorable scenario for these crimes to be investigated in Brazil,” explained Eloísa Machado, a professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and one of Cadhu’s spokespersons.
The document was handed over to the Court’s Chief Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda. Should she find that there are grounds for the president to be investigated, she will initiate a procedure in which witnesses for the defense and prosecution will be interviewed and technical documents submitted by national and international bodies, such as the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS) will be analyzed.
According to the complainants, there is a systematic discourse by the government that “undermines the implementation of laws that protect the environment and neglects indigenous peoples, while decreasing the participation of civil society”.
In addition, it encourages violence against these peoples and the advocates of social and environmental rights. With no mention of names, they claim that several indigenous leaders have been murdered since Bolsonaro took office.
Among the cases against the president listed in the informative note delivered to the ICC are the attempts to end the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI); the transfer of the Brazilian Forest Service to the Ministry of Agriculture; the restructuring of the National Environmental Council (CONAMA), which reduced from 22 to four civil society representatives; the slashing of the Ministry of Environment budgets; the changes in the Brazilian Institute of Environment (IBAMA) penalty policy; the persecution and dismissal of employees of social and environmental departments who are opposed to these policies.
Among the document’s signatories are two former justice ministers, José Carlos Dias and José Gregori, as well as lawyers and professors Dalmo de Abreu Dallari, Fabio Konder Comparato, Antonio Carlos Mariz de Oliveira, Eloísa Machado, Juliana Vieira dos Santos, Amelie Robine and Belisário dos Santos.
When questioned, through his press office, President Jair Bolsonaro said he would not comment on the representation made to the court. Investigations are typically lengthy in this court.
As Brazil is a signatory of the Rome Statute, which founded this court, and has already incorporated these rules into its legal system, in case of conviction the defendant is required to serve the sentence. This may range from fines to imprisonment. Even if he has already left office, he may still be tried.
This is the second attack within the international arena faced by the president. On Tuesday, Amnesty International submitted a report in which it shows that the inaction of the federal government and state governments has interfered with the deforestation of the Amazon region. The study is titled “Fence off and bring cattle: Illegal cattle farming in Brazil’s Amazon”.
According to the data, cattle ranching is one of the main factors in the deforestation and subsequent burning of the Amazon. “This is a very real threat, not only to the human rights of the indigenous and traditional peoples that inhabit the region but to the entire planetary ecosystem,” said Richard Pearshouse, director of the Department of Crises and Environment of Amnesty International.