What rights may the Brazilian State have violated?
The humanitarian crisis of the Yanomami is a cruel portrait of public policies that fail to respect collective rights. With the information we have so far, we set out to answer the question: what rights may the Brazilian State have violated?
Right to exclusive use of indigenous land
It is estimated that there are more than 20,000 miners in the Yanomami indigenous land. Mining is an illegal economic activity when it is carried out in areas larger than 50 hectares or on indigenous lands. According to the Constitution, “the lands traditionally occupied by indigenous peoples are intended for their permanent possession, and they are entitled to exclusive use of the riches of the soil, rivers and lakes that exist therein.”
Right to life
At least 570 children have died from mercury contamination, malnutrition and hunger. According to the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, the number may be higher. The right to life is a fundamental guarantee provided for in article 5, caput of the Brazilian Federal Constitution and is understood both as the right to “stay alive” and to have a dignified existence.
Water
Mercury is used in mining to facilitate the gold separation process and is toxic to human life and the environment. It is discharged into the waters of territories where illegal mining takes place. Access to drinking water and basic sanitation is an essential, fundamental and universal human right, indispensable to a life with dignity and recognized by the UN as “a condition for the full enjoyment of life and other human rights”.
Food security
According to the MPF, 52% of Yanomami children were malnourished at the end of 2022, a rate that in hard-to-reach communities reached 80%. The human right to adequate food is provided for in articles 6 and 227 of the Federal Constitution, defined by the Organic Law on Food and Nutritional Security, and in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, among other international legal instruments. It is defined as the right of each person to have uninterrupted physical and economic access to adequate food or the means to obtain such food, without compromising resources to obtain other fundamental rights, such as health and education, and also includes the right to access adequate and healthy food. Health Basic health care was disorganized, with shortages and irregularities in medicine contracts. Malaria and worm infestations proliferated among the population of the Indigenous Land. Of the 13,748 children eligible for treatment for worm infestations in the first half of last year, only 3,555 were treated. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in article XXV, states that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services”. In other words, the right to health is inseparable from the right to life, which is inspired by the value of equality between people.
In Brazil, the right to health is provided for in article 196 of the Constitution, which states that “Health is a right of everyone and a duty of the State, guaranteed through social and economic policies”.
Right to a balanced environment
Clandestine mining activities cause deforestation of native vegetation and are responsible for the contamination of water, soil and air by mercury. Everyone has the right to live in an ecologically balanced environment, guaranteed in article 225 of the Constitution: “Everyone has the right to an ecologically balanced environment, a common good for the people and essential to a healthy quality of life, and the Government and the community have the duty to defend and preserve it for present and future generations.”
Right to culture
The right to culture, freedom, family and community life are also rights present in the Brazilian Constitution in article 227. The right to freedom of conscience and belief, as well as places of worship and liturgies, is also protected in article 5º VI. Many of the places where illegal mining is being carried out are sacred sites for indigenous peoples. This aggravates the feeling of lack of respect for indigenous beliefs and the teachings of elders and ancestors about certain places in the territories.
Right to childhood
The protection of motherhood and childhood are also rights guaranteed by the Brazilian constitution in article 6.
The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples reported that, in 2022 alone, 99 Yanomami children between the ages of one and four died due to the advance of illegal mining. The causes of death were mostly due to malnutrition, pneumonia, and diarrhea.
In addition, studies by FIOCRUZ indicate that in pregnant women, mercury crosses the placenta and the risk is much greater for the fetus, which is still developing. The fetus’ brain is much more sensitive to mercury and can compromise cognition. This child may have impaired intelligence for the rest of their life, and may have damage or loss of vision, hearing, and even motor skills.
Support the Yanomami people by donating to the Hutukara Yanomami Association at hutukara.org!
