Jair Bolsonaro’s government has responded to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) decision, which issued an injunction in the face of the deaths of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips in the Amazon in June. In a response sent by Brazil to the international organization, the government neglected the work of the indigenous people in the initial searches for the two men, ignoring the threats of the former Funai maid.
The stance of the Executive launched a new complaint against Brazil, as representatives of civil society claimed that such a move by the government could qualify as non-compliance with the decision of the international organisation. The group leading the process consists of organizations such as Artigo 19 Brazil and South America, Vladimir Herzog Institute, Alianza Regional por la Libre Expresión e Información, Reporters Without Borders, Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association, Digital Journalism Association and Washington. Brazilian Office.
On 11 June, the IACHR issued an interim injunction in the case and ordered the Brazilian State to redouble its efforts to search for victims and take action to prevent repeated human rights violations identified, by ensuring a full investigation of the facts.
However, the Brazilian government responded to the Commission by arguing that the case would result in the location of the bodies and the confirmation of the deaths. “The Brazilian state highlights the work of the Amazonas State Public Safety Secretariat in addition to agencies affiliated with the federal government, emphasizing the seriousness of efforts to determine the whereabouts of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips,” he said. .
“It is also stated that necessary actions have been taken to investigate the cases that led to the injunction in question,” he said. In this sense, there are special public policies aimed at providing immediate intervention in the disappearances of people in order to give answers to their relatives about their whereabouts and to alleviate their suffering.”
In a document sent to the agency, the Executive insisted that “every effort was made to locate the missing”. As for the steps taken to investigate the incidents, we reiterate that the security forces are making every reasonable effort to find the beneficiaries of the measure in question.”
Entities object to government response
Responding to the government document and the authorities’ response to the international organization, which accused Brasília of “not complying” with the injunctions in the Bruno and Dom case, non-governmental organizations objected.
Organizations drew attention to problems in the investigation and warned of the risk of further violence,
In the response originally submitted by the organizations requesting injunctive relief, the organizations say that “without guaranteeing the proper resolution of the case, the manifestation of the Brazilian State already means non-compliance with the IACHR’s findings.”
In a new document, they show that “from the beginning of the investigation to the investigation phase, government officials did not do enough to understand all the elements surrounding the case and hold everyone involved accountable.”
According to them, in addition to the confessions made by the suspects themselves, progress in the investigations has only been possible with the cooperation of members of the Javari Valley Indigenous Peoples Association (UNIVAJA) and indigenous peoples in the region. However, this is not even mentioned in the document submitted by the government to the Commission.
In their response to the government, the organizations also reject the narrative voiced by different Brazilian authorities that Bruno Pereira’s death will be the result of a dispute and personal feud with fishermen in the Javari Valley. assets.
According to them, the position does not take into account the history of the threats to which Bruno Pereira has been subjected and which has been officially condemned.
Organizations also criticized the fact that the investigations did not provide any explanation for the death of Dom Philips, which is seen as a side effect in the investigation lines. According to them, this ignores the journalistic work of recording the environmental crimes committed by the journalist in the region.
The applicants point out that the federal government also ignored the decision of the Commission for the Americas by not proposing preventive measures, demanding that the injunction remain open and that the IACHR continues to request the Brazilian State to fully investigate the case. Tragedies like de Dom and Bruno happen to other people who work in Vale do Javari,” they warn.
According to them, the Brazilian government has not provided information on initiatives that could guarantee the protection and safety of those who continue to work in the region, it is cooperating with investigations and has therefore received numerous threats.
“Most of these measures are initial efforts to establish channels of dialogue between the authorities. One of the most important measures to strengthen security in the region has not turned into the adoption of concrete actions,” says the reaction of the organizations.
The document also points out that the slowness and flaws in the investigation so far have “prevented the location or arrest of others who may have been involved in crimes and who were free to threaten indigenous leaders, environmentalists and communicators.”
The report also highlights the lack of official complaints in the investigation of those who helped hide the bodies, the failure to investigate local politicians who profited from the crime, and the potential brains of the crime.
“The complaint submitted by the MPF and accepted by Federal Justice crystallizes various aspects that have been criticized by civil society for the investigations to effectively expose, encourage and promote the motivations for the murders of Bruno Araújo Pereira and Dom Philips, the accountability of all concerned and “To completely eliminate the criminal structure that created the environment that threatened and killed the people defending the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land and its peoples, resulting in these two murders,” the document points out.
The group’s finding is that the investigation is “far from being closed, and many questions remain open with the Brazilian authorities’ responses.”
In the document, they request the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to establish permanent channels of dialogue with the Brazilian government and to monitor the injunction. This will include the development of measures to protect people under threat, both in the context of the investigation of crime and in the context of the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land and the struggle for rights in the region.
“The multiplicity of cases involving the deaths of communicators and human rights defenders are not one-off, isolated cases,” he says.
“This is a level of lethality that can be identified and correlated with situations where political views or complaints made by these professionals are confronted by people and groups using local force. Attacking their lives has therefore been a recurring strategy in silencing voices and silencing people. Freedom of expression in the Amazon region. “, complete assets to IACHR.
source: Noticias
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