Prosecute former Brazilian president Bolsonaro for genocide!
Indigenous women in Brazil protesting the clearing of their ancestral forest (© Apib Comunicação - CC BY-SA 2.0)
Brazilian lawyers and human rights activists have called on the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate former president Bolsonaro for inciting crimes against humanity and the murder of 300 indigenous people of the South American country.
News and updates Call to actionTo: Mr. Karim A. A. Khan QC, prosecutor at the International Criminal Court
“Investigate former Brazilian president Bolsonaro for inciting genocide and other human rights violations.”
On November 27, 2019, the Brazilian Human Rights Advocacy Collective (CADHu) and the Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Human Rights Commission (Arns Commission) delivered a 71-page report to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
The groups called on the court to investigate former president Bolsonaro for incitement to genocide and systematic attacks on indigenous peoples.
Former Brazilian Justice Minister José Carlos Dias told the Guardian that Brazil is in an emergency situation, prompting the groups to take this drastic step against their own president.
The Bolsonaro government incited attacks on Brazil’s indigenous peoples and their land on the pretext of economic development. The violation of the rights of the almost one million indigenous people in Brazil was systematic and premeditated.
Bolsonaro’s declared aim was to exploit the indigenous peoples’ protected areas, opening their forests to mining companies, loggers, soy farmers, cattle breeders and the sugar cane industry.
Eloísa Machado, professor of constitutional law, points out that the Brazilian national judicial system is not capable of conducting an independent and impartial investigation of the former president.
The Brazilian human rights activists have pinned their hopes on the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, urging him to gather information and decide whether to request an investigation of Bolsonaro.
BackgroundBrazilian lawyers and an influential human rights group, including six former government ministers, want to indict the extreme right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro before the International Criminal Court for inciting genocide against Brazil’s indigenous population.
The Brazilian Human Rights Advocacy Collective (CADHu) and the Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Human Rights Commission (Arns Commission) delivered an “informative note” to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on November 27, 2019. It called for a “preliminary investigation of incitement to genocide and widespread systematic attacks against indigenous peoples” by Bolsonaro.
This would involve the court seeking information from Brazilian state governments, other countries, the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations, NGOs and other sources to determine whether to request authorization for an investigation.
The note argues that Bolsonaro’s words, actions and omissions with regard to environmental rights in Brazil can be regarded as attacks on the civilian population.
In early March 2020, a delegation of indigenous people from Brazil reported murders and land theft to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
On February 5, 2020, then-president Bolsonaro’s government submitted Bill 191/2020 to the Brazilian parliament, which would open indigenous protected areas to mining, the oil industry, hydroelectric plants and industrial agriculture. A few days later, at a meeting on February 18, 2020, a delegation of indigenous people called on the speaker of parliament Rodrigo Maia to reject the bill.
According to Human Rights Watch, Bolsonaro’s policy encourages criminal networks that practice illegal logging in the Amazon and that threaten and use violence against indigenous people, residents and environmental authorities.
20,000 illegal gold prospectors have already entered the Yanomami reserve. The intruders cleared the rainforest, destroyed river basins and contaminated them with highly toxic mercury, which they use to bind the gold particles.
The prospectors carry diseases for which the indigenous people have no immunity. Drinking, prostitution and violence are rife in their camps.
The indigenous people are resisting the intrusion and demand that their constitutional rights and recognized territories be respected. Bolsonaro systematically incited hate toward indigenous people, describing them as “animals in a zoo”, “prehistoric men”, and an obstacle to the country’s development.
The impact of his policies have been dramatic: In 2019 alone, 9,166 square kilometers of forest – an area more than five times the size of London – were cut down or torched, according to the state institute for satellite monitoring, INPE. The deforestation rate has thus increased by 85 percent.
Because the figures on environmental destruction did not show him in a favorable light, Bolsonaro summarily dismissed the director of the INPE institute. At the time, Bolsonaro claimed that environmentalists and foreign NGOs were responsible for the devastating forest fires.
Further information (in Portuguese):
APIB, Jan. 24, 2020: Articulação dos Povos Indígenas aciona PGR contra Bolsonaro por crime de racismo
To: Mr. Karim A. A. Khan QC, prosecutor at the International Criminal Court
Dear Mr. Karim A. A. Khan QC,
According to human rights, indigenous and environmental organizations, the former Brazilian government led by then-president Jair Bolsonaro has committed grave human rights violations.
We urge you, as prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, to open a preliminary investigation into former president Bolsonaro’s incitement to genocide and widespread systematic attacks on indigenous peoples in Brazil.
The Brazilian Human Rights Advocacy Collective (CADHu) and the Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Human Rights Commission (Arns Commission) delivered an “informative note” to that effect to you on November 27, 2019.
Yours faithfully,
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