A/HRC/33/42/Add.1
their free, prior and informed consent and no opportunities had been provided for their
participation in decision-making. The Special Rapporteur was also informed that adequate
impact assessments had not been conducted or shared.
41.
The communities described how their traditional livelihoods based on fishing and
hunting were no longer possible as river currents had been radically changed, the water had
turned turbid and fish stocks had decreased. They explained that mosquito-transmitted
illnesses had increased, extensive areas had been deforested, islands had been submerged
and peoples had been displaced. Inadequate and inappropriate housing has been provided
for those displaced by the dam, sometimes to places which lacked access to the Xingu
River.
42.
The Special Rapporteur was particularly alarmed to learn that mitigation measures
and enabling conditions identified as necessary for the project to proceed had not been
implemented, which compounded the serious impacts on indigenous peoples’ lives and
rights. The demarcation of Cachoeira Seca indigenous lands 11 as well as regularization and
full protection of Apyterewa and Paquiçamba indigenous lands had not proceeded in
accordance with the agreed time frames. Adequate compensation had not been provided for
loss of livelihoods, nor had participatory monitoring units to protect indigenous lands been
established and the local FUNAI has been weakened rather than strengthened.
43.
Meanwhile, the measures taken had compounded the harm — including the
distribution of processed foods to the communities, allegedly to quell opposition to the
project —, with the effect of accelerating the loss of traditional livelihoods. Communities
complained that they lacked drinking water and health services and had become dependent
on markets in faraway Altamira to sell what produce they can to purchase food.
44.
Communities residing along the river face unannounced release of water or declines
in water levels, resulting in stagnant pools of water near their homes which attract hordes of
disease-bearing mosquitos. These pools were visible in the community that the Special
Rapporteur visited. Members of that same community explained that, in January 2016,
Norte Energia had opened the floodgates with no advance warning, causing the river level
to rise by seven metres in one hour and washing away their boats, which had yet to be
replaced at the time of the Special Rapporteur’s visit.
45.
On 7 December 2015, a case was filed by the Public Prosecutor’s office in Altamira
against the Government and Norte Energia, alleging ethnocide as a result of the impacts of
the project — a reflection of the gravity of the impacts of such megaprojects and the
inadequacy of the associated mitigating measures. Another case was opened by the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights against Brazil on 21 December 2015, illustrating
the serious ongoing concern about the well-being of the affected indigenous peoples at the
national, regional and international levels.
46.
A licence was issued by the government of Pará for the Belo Sun gold mining
project, which is in close proximity to the Belo Monte dam and which directly affects the
Juruna community. This proceeded in the absence of consultations to obtain the free, prior
and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and without the conduct of an
urgently needed cumulative assessment of the environmental, social and human rights
impacts. The potential impacts are therefore a matter of very serious concern.
11
The demarcation of Cachoeira Seca lands, a precondition for the construction of the dam, was done
following the Special Rapporteur’s visit.
11