The ruling points out abuses by the Union, including the Armed Forces. It is the first time that the Brazilian State has been internationally condemned for violations against quilombolas
With information from Global Justice
In a landmark decision, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CorIDH) condemned Brazil for violating the fundamental rights of quilombolas during the installation and operation of the Alcântara (MA) military rocket launch base. This is the first time that the Brazilian State, including the Armed Forces, has been internationally condemned for measures and policies against these populations.
The violations involve the rights to: collective title to the territory; free use and movement in the area; housing; food; education; cultural participation; family protection; and “free, prior and informed” consultation. CorIDH considered that all of these actions compromised the “collective life project” of 171 communities.
As reparation and compensation, the Court ordered the government to grant title to the 78,1 hectares of traditional territory within three years and pay US$4 million to the residents' associations. The federal government must also conduct a “free, prior and informed” consultation on the measures that affect them, hold a public act of recognition of its responsibility and set up a “permanent dialogue table” with the quilombolas.
Decision summary (in Portuguese)
Decision in full (in Spanish)
The military installation was built in the early 1980s. In total, 312 families from 32 communities were evicted from their homes. Over the course of four decades, the government has put forward several plans and taken steps to expand the aerospace center, to the detriment of the quilombolas. Jair Bolsonaro's administration even signed a treaty with the US in 2019 for the commercial use of the base.
Located in the metropolitan region of São Luís, Alcântara has over 18 inhabitants and is the largest quilombola population in the country in proportional terms: almost 85% of the total, according to the 2002 IBGE Census. In total, there are 3,3 families, distributed across more than 170 communities, living mainly from small-scale agriculture and artisanal fishing. The occupation dates back to the XNUMXth century.
Historic ruling and agreement
“Overall, the ruling is very good. It is a historic ruling,” says Danilo Serejo, political scientist and advisor to the Movement of People Affected by the Alcântara Space Base (MABE), one of the organizations responsible for filing the lawsuit with CorIDH in 2001. “Now we are entering the phase of getting the State to fulfill its task of implementing this ruling,” he adds. He emphasizes that the decision prohibits the expansion of the aerospace center.
“It is not a recommendation, it is not a demonstration, it is not a suggestion. It is a determination that comes from the inter-American system for the Brazilian State to comply with”, reinforces Melisanda Trentin, coordinator of the Socio-Environmental Justice program at Justiça Global, another of the organizations responsible for the action (Read more in the box at the end of the report).
“Brazil respects the inter-American human rights system and will take the necessary measures to comply with what was established in the decision,” stated the Attorney General of the Union, Jorge Messias, in note from the Attorney General's Office (AGU). The government would have been able to demonstrate that the “implementation of many of the Court’s determinations is already underway”, according to him.
“The AGU will now analyze the various aspects of the ruling regarding the possible admissibility of a request for clarification to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, within the available period of 90 days. It will also prepare an Enforcement Opinion (PFE) to communicate the content of the decision to the competent bodies and indicate the need for its compliance, in accordance with the obligations assumed internationally by the Brazilian State,” the text continues.
In September, the government closed a agreement with the quilombolas which established the formal conditions for the beginning of the titling of the territory and canceled the expansion plan of the aerospace center. The creation of the Interministerial Working Group (GTI) that made the agreement possible took place in April 2023, on the eve of the hearing of the trial now concluded. According to the assessment of civil society organizations that follow the case, the federal administration accelerated and closed the negotiations under pressure from the process.
At the 2023 hearing in Santiago, Chile, the Brazilian government had already acknowledged part of its responsibility and made an apology. Shortly after, the organizations responsible for the action claimed that the statement was incomplete and that the federal government had not proposed effective measures for the immediate titling and reparations of the quilombolas.
In July 2024, in another historic decision, the International Labor Organization (ILO) had already recommended that Brazil title the lands and respect the communities' right to consultation. It was also the first time in history that the organization had ruled on a case involving traditional Afro-descendant populations in the world.
How do CorIDH decisions work?
Countries that sign the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR) are required to comply with the decisions of the CorIDH, but there is no legal provision for specific sanctions with greater consequences if they fail to do so, such as fines imposed by the national judiciary, for example. Failure to comply with these determinations would, however, imply significant diplomatic damage.
“The absence of international legal mechanisms that oblige signatory States to the American Convention on Human Rights to comply with the decisions of the CorIDH does not mean that they are not obliged to comply with them,” says the popular lawyer of the Socioenvironmental Institute (ISA) Fernando Prioste.
“The signing of international conventions and treaties on human rights presupposes the good faith and interest of States in complying with them, including the need to comply with decisions of the CorIDH”, he continues.
Prioste adds that these decisions are also an important reference for judgments of similar cases in the Brazilian Judiciary. In addition, they can be used as tools for structural transformations that make quilombola rights effective, for example, to change, correct or propose public policies.
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