With new incriminating evidence, foreign entities are increasing the pressure and are asking the ICC (International Criminal Court) attorney general to expedite the review of the allegations against Jair Bolsonaro. For activists and lawyers, the court cannot focus all its resources solely on investigating atrocities in Ukraine.
In a petition delivered this week, European institutions presented evidence of crimes against humanity by the Brazilian president over the destruction of the Amazon and threats to indigenous peoples. The documents are accompanied by more than a million signatures, this time from people pressing for action against Bolsonaro.
The group, which includes Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Avaaz, Bourdon & Associates and AllRise, wants the court to launch a preliminary investigation based on various correspondence filed against Jair Bolsonaro and his administration. An action is considered extremely urgent as the destruction process is accelerating.
In October 2021, the same alliance of entities filed a complaint against Bolsonaro in The Hague for crimes against humanity. In addition, three other complaints were filed with the same environmental and domestic argument.
Now, the parties not only insist on condemning the fact that crimes continue to be committed, but also emphasize that the ICC cannot focus its attention solely on Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, The Hague’s attention has shifted to events in Eastern Europe, with the dispatch of investigators and even the visit of the attorney general.
“The future significance of the court will depend not only on how it will handle Russia’s war against Ukraine, but also with its perspective on how to deal with environmental destruction that has been done, the ICC has yet to respond to many of them,” underline the authors of the new complaint.
Activists and lawyers sent a letter to Karim AA Khan, Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, with new evidence, and submitted 1 million signatures worldwide in support of the “Planet x Bolsonaro” campaign.
For them, the ICC needs additional capacity and resources to deal with both the aggression in Ukraine and the worsening global environmental degradation. “The destruction of the Brazilian Amazon directly affects the indigenous peoples who have lived and care for these forests for centuries. Also, due to the unique importance of these forests to the world’s climate, their destruction has global consequences for humanity as a whole”, they justify.
The group underlines that there was no response from the prosecutor to the four complaints made to the court. “We think that the ICC is experiencing extremely high workloads, especially as the war of aggression in Ukraine escalates the tension. We welcome the swift opening of the investigation into crimes committed in Ukraine and we are aware that this work will mobilize vast resources . humanitarian and financial,” they admit. .
However, in his view, the war process should not prevent the Court from opening and conducting other investigations that are equally urgent and necessary to the international community.
“Unfortunately, the destruction of the Brazilian Amazon is accelerating, while Bolsonaro’s government continues to take legislative and administrative measures that exacerbate deforestation in the Amazon.”
new evidence
To support the new claims, organizations cite the increase in the rate of deforestation by more than 13,000 km² in just one year (versus 10,851 km² in 2019/20). According to them, data published by Inpe (National Institute for Space Studies) show that deforestation in the first two months of 2022 affected an area three times larger than in the same period in 2021. The group also talks about decrees that will fuel more. Deforestation makes gold mining easier in the Amazon.
The document also includes a study by Thomas E. Lovejoy and Carlos Nobre that points to how continued deforestation increases the risk of forest turning into savanna ecosystems, releasing vast carbon stocks of the Amazon into the atmosphere and further amplifying change. .
“Climate experts have found that deforestation is responsible for about 20% of global carbon emissions – 1.5 times more than the total emissions from the world’s air, road, rail and sea transport systems,” they say.
Based on current climate commitments, these climate experts estimate that emissions attributable to the Bolsonaro administration will cause more than 180,000 extreme heat-related deaths worldwide this century.
“Given that this alleged crime against humanity is extremely time-sensitive and affects eight billion people around the world, as well as future generations on the planet, we urge you to dedicate yourself to communications that have been opened against Bolsonaro and members of his administration for their actions that led to the destruction of the Brazilian Amazon and its people.” they insist.
Attorney William Bourdon, an international reference in the field of human rights, was the representative of indigenous leaders. “We applaud the swift opening of the investigation into crimes committed in Ukraine and recognize that this work will mobilize vast human and financial resources. However, the concern of many NGOs should not prevent the Attorney General from opening the investigation. to conduct investigations,” he argued.
Johannes Wesemann, founder of AllRise and initiator of the global “O Planeta x Bolsonaro” campaign, is also pressing the court to take action. “Understanding how tragic Russia’s war against Ukraine is does not take away the fact that the situation in the Brazilian Amazon has not improved or stabilized, but is accelerating at an invisible rate of deterioration and destruction,” he said.
Bolsonaro’s government’s announcements during the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow in 2021 were “empty promises and the urgency for action is greatly increased with the upcoming elections in Brazil,” according to the complaint filed with the court this week.
The document also highlights that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on social media on April 4 that “some government and business leaders say one thing and do another”. “They’re lying…” For beings, that’s Bolsonaro’s case.
The second term would be “destructive” for humanity
In the group’s assessment, the term of a second Bolsonaro would have “catastrophic consequences” for humanity, with an even more accelerated process of deforestation.
“With the elections to be held in October, the second term of his administration would have enormous consequences for humanity all over the world. Only in the first half of this year Bolsonaro worked in the Brazilian Senate to pass 10 bills that violate human rights, in particular human rights. Bolsonaro also added that increased fertilizer He used the aggression in Ukraine to support his argument, using his demand as a way to get more land from the Amazon’s protected areas.”
The parties also criticized Brazil’s participation in the OECD under these circumstances.
“The Bolsonaro government does not support many of the core values that the OECD stands for. An accession would potentially make Brazil more attractive to foreign investment, which could lead to a further accelerated destruction of the Amazon. In the current situation, this would make Brazil and Brazil more attractive. Participation will be for the wrong reasons, as the Bolsonaro government currently does not meet OECD international standards.”
source: Noticias
