Europe told if it does not act it will be ‘turning blind eye to genocide’ under Bolsonaro

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Brazil’s foremost indigenous leader has called on the EU to impose trade sanctions to prevent ecological disaster and a “social extermination” by her country’s far-right president-elect, who takes office on 1 January.

Jair Bolsonaro has terrified indigenous communities by promising to take every centimetre of their land, designate rights activists as “terrorists” and carve a motorway through the Amazon, which could deforest an area larger than Germany.

Sônia Guajajara, the leader of Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APBI) which represents more than 300 Brazilian indigenous groups, said: “We are afraid of a new genocide against the indigenous population and we are not going to wait for it to happen. We will resist. We will defend our territories, and our lives.”

Before his election, Bolsonaro, an admirer of Brazil’s military dictators, called for minorities to bow to the majority will or disappear. He once said: “It’s a shame that the Brazilian cavalry wasn’t as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated their Indians.”

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“Bolsonaro is a clear expression of [the drive for] social extermination,” Guajajara told the Guardian.

Over the course of his three-month election campaign, APBI saw significant rises in violence, intimidation and environmental destruction.

Bolsonaro has promised to increase commodity production by scrapping regulations protecting the Amazon and its indigenous peoples. There is already reportedly an “epidemic” of illegal mining activity.

Campaigners fear that its fruits could be exported under a free trade deal the EU is negotiating with Brazil, as part of a wider agreement with the Mercosur group of nations.

Europe is Brazil’s second biggest trading partner, responsible for 18% of its trade.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The EU must ‘monitor and control’ Brazilian exports to address environmental destruction, Guajajara said. Photograph: Felipe Werneck/AP

Guajajara said: “The EU must account for the social and environmental impacts of its trade policy and boycott products from conflict areas, such as soya from the mid-eastern part of Brazil.”

Due diligence measures were needed across supply chains to source the origin of high-risk commodities including soya, beef and palm oil before they were exported to Europe, she argued.

“The EU needs to monitor and control where these products come from,” she said. “It is not enough just to accept official information; they also have to look at the situation on the ground.”

A deforestation roadmap published by Brussels on Tuesday aims “to step up EU action against tropical deforestation” with clearer and greener supply chains, better global coordination and more transparency in capital flows. But no regulation is proposed.

Another EU communication is expected next year.

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European commission sources said that the Mercosur deal would contain a sustainable development chapter covering forest conservation, wildlife trade, labour rights and “provisions on responsible business conduct”.

The pact envisages “a new forum in which to discuss how to make our trade flows more sustainable”, a source said, with avenues to address the rights of indigenous people and allow environmental concerns to be aired.

A UN declaration already recognises the vital role of indigenous peoples in preserving forest environments – and their own rights to conserved territory. But 49 environmental defenders were killed in Brazil in 2016.

“You cannot conserve the rainforest, unless you preserve the lives of those who live there,” Guajajara said.

Last week, Bolsonaro vowed to abolish the human rights ministry and move indigenous rights foundation Funai into a new ministry focusing on women and family rights.

The Amazon still contains an estimated 120 uncontacted indigenous peoples, whose lives are considered under threat.

If the EU shunned trade action now it would be “turning a blind eye to genocide of peoples and cultures, and to the accelerated destruction of the environment and climate change”, Guajajara said. “This will have consequences not just for indigenous populations, but for the planet as a whole.”



