The Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship, Silvio Almeida, will propose to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other ministers measures that punish companies that benefit from illegal mining. He made the statement after participating in an interview with the program The Voice of Brazilgives Brazil Communication Company (EBC).
“The Brazilian Constitution and the statutes and treaties that Brazil has signed determine respect for human rights. It is not possible for a company to have its economic activity in Brazil, to use an activity that is not only destroying nature but also the lives of populations”, declared the minister.
According to Almeida, the possibility of sanctions against companies that benefit from illegal mining was discussed yesterday (30) at a meeting between Lula and some ministers. According to the minister, President Lula himself determined a series of fundamental measures to combat predatory activities in indigenous territories.
“One of them [medidas fundamentais], with which the Ministry of Human Rights is directly concerned, is the relationship between human rights and business. It means establishing a series of measures that make it incompatible for companies that are going to operate in Brazil to use illegal mining,” he explained.
suspected threats
The minister confirmed that he will travel to Roraima next week with the Minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro, and the commanders of the Armed Forces to verify the humanitarian crisis in Yanomami Land. Silvio Almeida explained why he asked for reinforcement of the National Force to guarantee the safety of the indigenous population in the Yanomami Land and the public servants who are there on a community mission.
The Ministry of Human Rights, he explained, will carry out a diagnosis and verify, based on the reports, whether indigenous leaders are being threatened. He did not rule out the possibility of including victims in protection programs, if necessary. The work would be carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and Public Security and with the local authorities of Roraima.
“It is the duty of the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship to carry out this diagnosis and verify, based on listening to the leaders, to find out how they are being threatened, if they are being threatened, and to offer the resources of the ministry from the protection program of defender of human rights, to offer the resources so that people can be protected”, he declared.
time frame
Silvio Almeida defended the overthrow of the time frame. Since last year, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) has ruled on an action that asks that indigenous peoples can only claim land if they were on it when the 1988 Constitution was enacted. For the minister, it is necessary not only to extinguish the time frame but also to accelerate the demarcation of indigenous lands.
“The time frame is a tragedy for indigenous peoples. It is incompatible with a State that wants to protect indigenous territories. All efforts must be made to reject this idea of the existence of a timeframe. I think President Lula has already discussed this with the Minister [dos Povos Indígenas] Sonia Guajajara that there should be an acceleration in the process of demarcating indigenous lands”, he said.
citizen occupation
During the interview for A Voz do Brazil, Almeida defended a permanent policy that guarantees the sustainable life of vulnerable populations. For the minister, it is necessary to make a diagnosis of the situation and define an overview to reorient public policies that guarantee the “citizen occupation” of the public space.
“In order to outline human rights policies, it is fundamental that we have to go to the territory to report on it, make a diagnosis, outline a panorama to reorient public policies for citizen occupation of the territory. As I said, it will generate a series of consequences”, said the minister during the program. For him, the humanitarian crisis of the Yanomami was fundamentally due to the absence of the State, which allowed an illegal occupation and generated conflicts.
Almeida defined citizen occupation as the creation of a public space that guarantees dignity, combined with employment, housing, income, security policies, not just policing, but the protection of people’s lives. According to him, this permanent policy would not apply only to the Yanomami, but also to other vulnerable populations, such as other indigenous groups, riverside communities, quilombolas and residents of slums and the outskirts of urban centers.
Translated to english by RJ983
From Brazil, by EBC News
