Human Rights

Civil Society Statement on the Launch of the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP)

Thursday, June 16, 2011
Congress of the International Hydropower Association Foz do Iguaçú, Brasil

 Make no mistake: the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) is a purely voluntary assessment tool.  It has little basis in multilateral international agreements, and exerts no binding force.  This proposed Protocol risks weakening existing social and environmental standards and concentrating control over assessments in the hands of the hydropower industry, ignoring the democratic processes of national legislation and international accords.  

The HSAP seeks only to measure, not enforce, the

Tribes Dispute Greenwashing by Dam Builders

Sheyla Juruna at the IHA Congress
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Conflict of Interest at Heart of Sustainability Guidelines, Says Environmental GroupFoz do Iguaçú, Brazil― Indigenous people from Brazil's vast but shrinking Amazon region yesterday interrupted the Congress of the International Hydropower Association, claiming that the Belo Monte Dam was approved illegally by the Brazilian government, vowing to fight as long as it takes to stop the dam. At the same event, environmental activists dismissed a new voluntary environmental tool as an effort by the dam industry to greenwash its practices. Sheyla Juruna of the Juruna tribe, which would be direct

Indigenous People Protest Hydropower Greenwash

Sheyla Juruna tells Valter Cardeal of Eletrobras that indigenous people did not give consent to Belo Monte Dam
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Sheyla Juruna tells Valter Cardeal of Eletrobras that indigenous people did not give consent to Belo Monte Dam International Rivers During the same day that the Peruvian government canceled Eletrobras' Inambari dam in the Peruvian Amazon as a result of non-compliance with the international Labor Organization's Convention 169 on the rights of indigenous peoples to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, tribes from Brazil's Xingu River basin lambasted the Brazilian government at an International Congress for having failed to achieve consent from indigenous peoples who would be affected

New Lawsuit Against Belo Monte Questions IBAMA License


Monday, June 6, 2011
Translated from Portuguese: read the original version in Portuguese. The new lawsuit in Federal Court, the 11th against the Belo Monte Dam, questions IBAMA's granting of the installation license without fulfillment of the project's prerequisites. 40% of the agency's prerequisites were not met, presenting a risk of social chaos.
 Brazil's Federal Public Prosecutor (MPF) filed today its 11th civil lawsuit against the Belo Monte Dam, over problems in the dam's environmental licensing. The lawsuit demands the suspension of the installation license, which approves the b

Doubts, Protests Prevail in Belo Monte

Kayapó leader on the Xingu River
Kayapó leader on the Xingu River Christian Poirier/Amazon Watch Brazil's environmental agency IBAMA stepped further into controversy last week when it granted Belo Monte Dam consortium Norte Energia a full installation license to begin construction. By doing so, the agency drew the Belo Monte project further into what will be a long, drawn-out quagmire of doubt, legal and technical problems, growing social unrest, and – more likely than not – large cost overruns. The fight over the Belo Monte Dam is not over. It's just getting good. Lawsuits ContinueThe full installation license

Fight Over Belo Monte Legality Reaches Boiling Point

The illegality of the Belo Monte Dam is reaching a boiling point.
Recent evidence illustrates that Norte Energia, the consortium under contract to build the Belo Monte Dam, has not completed the 66 social and environmental pre-requisites issued by IBAMA, Brazil's environmental agency, as part of the preliminary environmental license granted in 2010.

Brazilian Government Pressured Over Human Rights Resolution on Amazon Dam

Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Organizations Worldwide Call on Brazil to Respect a Resolution from Inter-American Commission to Suspend the Belo Monte DamWashington, D.C. – In a series of letters sent to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, nearly 100 prominent Brazilian and international human rights and environmental organizations, have expressed "deep concerns" over her government's refusal to comply with a resolution of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), part of the Organization of American States (OAS), that requested the immediate halt of construction on the Belo Monte Dam Complex in

5,000 Indigenous Peoples Ignored In Grab for Carbon Credits

A community leader speaks to his people and visiting NGO representatives about Barro Blanco project
A community leader speaks to his people and visiting NGO representatives about Barro Blanco project ASAMCHI As far back as the 1970s, civil society groups and the Ngobe indigenous people have been fighting to protect the Tabasara River and the lands belonging to them from destructive dam projects. The most recent such project is the 29 MW Barro Blanco Hydroelectric Project in western Panama. In late 2010, groups from across Panama and Europe were successful in prompting an investigation by the European Investment Bank (EIB) into human rights abuses, which forced the dam developer, Generatin

Indigenous and Riverbank Communities Call on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Suspend the Massive Belo Monte Dam

Tuira and the women's movement leader
Thursday, November 11, 2010
As the government prepares to issue the dam’s construction license, communities urge the Commission to denounce illegalities in licensing and violations of human rights Tuira and the women's movement leader Glenn Switkes Affected communities have formally issued a request to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), part of the Organization of American States, to investigate illegalities in licensing and alleged human rights violations in the planning and implementation of the Belo Monte Dam Complex. Such illegalities and violations have been well documented, ranging from the

Communities Call on Inter-American Commission to Suspend Belo Monte Dam

Thursday, November 11, 2010
Indigenous and Riverbank Communities Call on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Suspend the Massive Belo Monte Dam in the Brazilian Amazon As the government prepares to issue the dam’s construction license, communities urge the Commission to denounce illegalities in licensing and violations of human rights Washington, D.C.- Today international and Brazilian human rights organizations submitted a formal petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), denouncing grave and imminent violations upon the rights of indigenous and riverine communities that will be af

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Human Rights