Luciana Lima Reporter Agência Brasil
Brasília – At a meeting yesterday of the government’s National Human Rights Council (“CDDPH”), serious problems were reported at the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant and dam on the Xingu River in the state of Pará. Belo Monte, with a budget of over R$20 billion, is the largest of the government’s construction projects in its showcase development plan known as the Accelerated Growth Program (“PAC”). Yesterday’s meeting of the CDDPH was presided over by the head of the Human Rights Secretariat, minister Maria do Rosário.
The serious problems enumerated stemmed basically from what one CDDPH member called “a total absence of the State.” According to one report presented at the CDDPH meeting: “It is a no-man’s-land. There is sexual exploitation of children. The population is isolated and does not have access to the most basic of government services. There is a power struggle between the contractors and the local population – people who live along the rivers, the indigenous community and other traditional groups in the region, with all the power in the hands of the contractors.”
The Belo Monte contractor, Norte Energia, is described as a regional political powerhouse, but its employees are called “unprepared” for dealing with the locals. “They present themselves as representatives of the government (“agents do governo”). They coerce the local population. They are not fulfilling contractual obligations (“condicionantes”).” A series of “conditions” have been included in Belo Monte licenses and contracts to ensure that construction companies observe basic human rights and protect the local flora and fauna.
Many of the problems outlined at the CDDPH were similar to those cited in a recent report by the Inter American Court for Human Rights of the Organization of American States. The OAS Human Rights Court went so far as to recommend that work on the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant and dam on the Xingu River in the state of Pará be halted until further consultations with the local population, especially indigenous communities, could take place.
At the time the Brazilian ministry of Foreign Relations rebuffed the OAS court report, calling it “precipitated and unjust,” and went on to say that Brazil has a right to build the Belo Monte power plant and dam. Minister Maria do Rosário also repudiated the OAS report, but admitted that the Brazilian government was determined to ensure that human rights and the environment were protected. And she announced that CDDPH meetings could be attended by representatives of the local community.
Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English
Link - Para Maria do Rosário, população pode participar de reunião com consórcio sobre problemas de Belo Monte
Link - Conselho de direitos humanos constata ausência absoluta do Estado em Belo Monte
