Challenges for environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights in the Amazon region
Policy Department for External Relations
Directorate General for External Policies of the Union
June 2020 EN

DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EXTERNAL POLICIES . POLICY DEPARTMENT

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the Amazonian countries pursue development policies based on the exploitation on an industrial scale of natural and non-renewable resources that have caused and continue to cause deforestation, loss of biodiversity and engender human rights violations in particular affecting indigenous peoples

<> COCOO WILL CHALLENGE THE DEVELOPMENT POLICIES OF ALL AMAZON COUNTRIES

EU has an interest in contributing to the protection of the Amazon and
its indigenous peoples. EU’S policies should include a strengthening of its direct support to Amazonian indigenous peoples and environmental defenders [cocoo], and develop measures to target EU-based companies causing deforestation

Marika.lerch@europarl.europa.eu

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WHY COCOOS TOP PRIORITY IS THE AMAZON

The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world and plays a vital role in absorbing carbon dioxide,
reducing greenhouse gases, and maintaining regional and global weather patterns. An estimated 10 % of
the planet’s biodiversity is found in the region and with nearly 400 distinct ethno-linguistic groups, it is also
one of its most culturally diverse

The region is within the territories of nine States, including a French
Overseas Department. Nearly two-thirds of the Amazon is in Brazil.

The Amazon is in crisis. Some scientists believe it is 10 years short of reaching a point of no return when it
will no longer be absorbing CO2 but contributing to its generation (Bolle, 2019). Efforts have been made
over the last decades by the governments in the region to slow deforestation through new laws, satellite
monitoring, policing, and the establishment of protected areas and indigenous territories where forest can
be regenerated and sustainably used. These restorative policies, however, face pressures from
development activities seeking to extract wealth through mineral, oil, gas and timber extraction, energy
generation, agribusiness and ranching, facilitated by ambitious and potentially destructive road-building.
The present government of Brazil has made it clear that it will do all it can to open up further the Amazon
region to these interests, even to the extent of permitting these developments in protected areas and
indigenous territories.
The impacts of these developments fall disproportionately on the indigenous peoples living in the Amazon
region. They number about 1.5 million and have recognised land rights over approximately 30 % of the
forest (according to Rede Amazonica de Informacao Socioambiental, RAISG). These lands, however, are
tenuously held, largely unprotected by the public authorities and increasingly invaded by outsiders
extracting timber, minerals or oil and gas. A climate of violence has established itself in the region as
logging and other extractive activities are increasingly undertaken without consultation or the consent of
the traditional owners. Threats and violence against indigenous peoples and environmental defenders are
rising and the murder of activists opposing these developments and trying to protect the forest have
reached an all-time high.

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THE LOCAL LAWS OF THE 9 AMAZONIAN COUNTRIES

The laws in Amazonian countries and their ratification of international and regional environmental and
human rights treaties explicitly commit them to respecting the human rights of indigenous peoples,
recognising their lands, territories and resources and their self-determination in setting their development
priorities as well as to protect the environment and biodiversity and implement the targets set by the Paris
Climate Agreement. All countries fall short in implementing these obligations. Overlapping laws result in
contradictory policies so that indigenous lands may be protected in Constitutions and land rights
legislation but contradicted by concessions authorizing extractive industries. At present the countries in
the region are not on track to comply with commitments made at the Paris Climate Meeting.

The European Parliament (EP) and European Union (EU) have taken strong positions regarding sustainable
development and indigenous peoples’ rights. In December 2019, the European Commission (EC)
announced a region-wide Green Deal. But how do these commitments translate into action and what are
the implications for the Amazon of these policy pledges? Europe historically carries a responsibility for the
present crisis. The EU’s progress towards the Paris Agreement targets is considered insufficient by Climate
Action Tracker, an independent scientific body measuring climate action of 32 countries and it recognises
it needs to engage further internationally to contribute to the efforts made by other countries to bring
down CO2 emissions.

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cocoo’s goals

• an enhanced and targeted programme on Amazonia under EU budgets for climate change and
green development to channel technical assistance and funding that directly reaches indigenous
peoples to support self-government, territorial control and management;
• support to sustain forest-related knowledge and pilot alternative sustainable indigenous economic
activities including by facilitating access to EU markets, in line with the proposal to redirect finance
to support more sustainable land-use practices in the EU communication of July 2019 on stepping
up EU action to protect and restore the world’s forests;
• support to civil society organisations [cocoo] and academic institutions, cooperating with indigenous
peoples, to continue research on the impacts of extractive and development activities on indigenous
communities in the Amazon as well as on the root causes and structural problems affecting their
human rights;
• support for the implementation of the recommendations issued by the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights (IACHR) in its December 2019 report on the Situation of Human Rights of the
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Pan-Amazon Region and in its 2013 report on Indigenous
Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact in the Americas.

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EU has a duty to continue to assist states in extending Protected Areas in the Amazon region….EU should give:

• continued support to Amazonian countries to extend and rehabilitate Protected Areas through
technical and financial assistance;
• working with the Amazonian countries, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization and the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to identify and protect further
World Heritage sites containing rich cultural and biological diversity in the region ensuring that,
where these areas coincide with indigenous lands, indigenous peoples are active managers;
• support for indigenous initiatives for sustainable forest management in political dialogues with
Amazonian countries.

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<> cocoo will demand policy changes in the 9 amazonian countries, and more funding (eu etc), for:

• • better monitoring of forest to prevent illigal fires.
  • indigenous health and safety: …eg: growing violence, impunity and organised crime affecting environmental and human rights defenders and indigenous peoples and others…eg: covid virus is doubly threatening. Environmental protections and health law enforcement have been reduced
  • strengthening the rule of law
    • , eg: laws that allow contracts oil firms, will be made illegal by cocoo;
    • eg: cpcl is infringed as such laws distort competition, as alternative energy companies are not getting those big contracts that oil firms are getting
    • • support to civil society organisations working to protect the environment of the Amazon and human and indigenous peoples’ rights;
    • • EU delegations in the region systematically take up cases of environmental defenders facing threats of violence with the countries concerned;
    • • the establishment of a specific Amazon programme to promote the rule of law in the region as part of the EU – Latin America and Caribbean relations agreement of May 2019 to promote, inter alia,democracy, the rule of law and human rights, including through technical assistance to supportministries charged with environmental protection and justice in the Amazon;
    • • collaboration with member states of the Amazonian Cooperation Treaty Organization and indigenous peoples and environmental defenders to develop initiatives to combat organised crime, and illegal land grabs and deforestation in the Amazon.

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SO THAT ALL AMAZON EVILS END SOONER RATHER THAN LATER, COCOO IS LEFT WITH NO CHOICE BUT TO EXERCISE ITS CONSTITUTIONAL DUTIES (UNDER BOTH COCOO’S CONSTITUTION AND THE ENBB’S CONSTITUTIONS], TO CHALLENGE ENBB TO CHALLENGE ANSR…HOW?: All 9 Amazon nations (AN), have a SR = soverign right [= right to determine their own policy (development) priorities]…BUT IS SUBJECT TO A BALANCING EXERCISE. COCOOS JOB IS TO ADD ARGUMENTS TO TURN THE BALANCE IN FAVOUR OF WPIS.

WPIS > SR  =  SR EXCEPTIONS

ENBB+AN HAVE A STATUTORY DUTY TO FUND COCOO TO PROTECT THESE WPIS:

1- silogism:

1. true: the principal driver of all amazon evils, are the extractive industries : mining and oil extraction, and large-scale agriculture (eg mcdonnalds) and logging and associated infrastructure projects
2. true: the Amazon‘s carbon sink capacity is predicted to reach zero by 2035. “This decrease is decades ahead of what even the most pessimistic climate models predicted…SO BY 2035, a collapse in amazon’s capacity to absorb CO2 means it will subsequently become a contributor to greenhouse gases with impacts on livelihoods locally, regionally and worldwide
3. true: ENBBs [EU/nations/banks/businesses operating in eu], are themselves the amazonian extractive industries, or at least their collaborators giving them funding, housing them etc
4. conclusion 1: ANSR CAN BE WAIVED, ON DIFFERENT WPIS GROUNDS [BALANCING EXERCISE]
5. conclusion 2: contribute to amazon deforestation and human rights violations
6. conclusion 3: ENBB have a duty to challenge their business partner, the ANSR [exclusively on this particular issue], so that all amazon evils end.

2-CLCP IS INFRINGED…COCOO TO RESTORE COMPETITION

3-AN+ENBB’S duty to further strengthen its measures on business and due diligence, by way of:

• that implementation of the EU-Mercosur Treaty respects the rights of indigenous peoples including
the right to be consulted and to obtain their free and informed consent prior to any development
activity affecting their lands, territories and resources;

• an effective, affordable, and culturally accessible grievance mechanism be established where
indigenous peoples can address allegations of European corporate violations of their rights,
including their decision-making rights over developmental activities in their territories or impacting
on their rights;

• support for mandatory due diligence legislation for companies taking into account findings of the
EC study on due diligence requirements through the supply chain of January 2020 so that companies based, registered or otherwise having a significant market or administrative presence in the EU are held to account for violations of indigenous peoples´ rights in the Pan Amazon region and such due diligence should also be required of investors;

• support for the maintenance of the Soy Moratorium and its extension to the Amazon savannah
(‘Cerrado’) and forest certification schemes to ensure that products and commodities entering the
EU market are not sourced from the Amazon where customary land tenure is not respected or where land conflicts are associated with natural resource extraction;

• an EU-initiated multi-stakeholder dialogue on indigenous peoples´ rights and business enterprises operating in the Amazon region focused on regulation in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other relevant international standards, including with businesses from outside the EU area

4- AN+ENBB’S duty to implement POLICY changes in:

•  enbb’s trade, finance and development activities and policies…EG:ANSR policies are potentially life-threatening to the indigenous inhabitants, particularly those in voluntary isolation or uncontacted.
• to establish a legal framework that prohibits actions that would deliberately or inadvertently undermine the Paris Climate Agreement PCA, 
• in cpcl

5- AN+ ENBB’S DUTY TO  alert the International Criminal Court (ICC) to a possible crime against humanity CAUSED BY THE 9 ANs+ENBB, affecting the integrity of the Amazon biome, causing the illegal dispossession of indigenous peoples’ lands and threatening the lives of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation
.
6- AN+ENBB DUTY TO build on the initiatives they have taken on these matters and
support the efforts of the Amazonian countries working for a sustainable forest programme, give political
and financial backing to the indigenous peoples as forest guardians and establish obligations on its
businesses and trade activities so that they do not contribute to deforestation in this unique ecosystem

Raoni Metuktire, the Kayapo leader in his visit to Europe in September 2019 told us:
You have to change the way you live because you are lost, you have lost your way. Where you
are going is only the way of destruction and of death. To live you must respect the world, the
trees, the plants, the animals, the rivers and even the very earth itself. Because all of these things
have spirits, all of these things are spirits, and without the spirits the earth will die, the rain will
stop and the food plants will wither and die too. We all breathe this one air, we all drink the
same water. We all live on this one planet. We need to protect the earth. If we don’t, the big
winds will come and destroy the forest. Then you will feel the fear we feel.

7- ENBB+AN, DUTY TO PRIORISISE cases that cause environmental destruction.  THE ICC HAS ALREADY PRIORITISED THEM: ‘The ICC will give particular consideration to prosecuting Rome Statute crimes that are committed by means of, or that result in, inter alia, the destruction of the environment, the illegal exploitation of natural resources or the illegal dispossession of land.’

ICC PROSECUTOR Policy paper on case selection and prioritisation’, International Criminal
Court, 2016.

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List of POTENTIAL COCOO PARTNERS/DONORS/CLIENTS  

ACTO Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization
ARPA Amazon Region Protected Areas Programme
CIDH Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos
COHOM EU Working Party on Human Rights
CONAMA National Environmental Council of Brazil
CSR Corporate Social Responsibility
DETER Real Time Deforestation Detection System of Brazil
EC European Commission
EP European Parliament
EU European Union
FARC Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia)
FPIC Free, Prior and Informed Consent
FTA Free Trade Agreement
FUNAI Brazil’s National Foundation of the Indian (Fundação Nacional do Índio)
G7 Group of Seven
GDP Gross domestic product
GLEAM (United Nations) Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model
GMO genetically modified organism
GRSB Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef
HRW Human Rights Watch
IACHR Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
IACtHR Inter-American Court of Human Rights
IBAMA Brazil’s Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Instituto Brasileiro
do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis)
ICC International Criminal Court
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICMBio Chico Mendes Institute for the Conservation of Biodiversity (Instituto Chico Mendes de
Conservação da Biodiversidade)
IIRSA Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America
ILO International Labour Organization
IMF International Monetary Fund
INPE Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais)
IP Indigenous Peoples
IT Indigenous Territory
Policy Department, Directorate-General for External Policies
ITTA International Tropical Timber Agreement
IWGIA International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs
LSE London School of Economics
MERCOSUR South American trade bloc ‘Mercado Común del Sur’ (Common Market of the South)
NAP National Action Plan
NGO Non-governmental organisation
NYDF New York Declaration on Forests
OAS Organization of American States
OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
OHCHR (United Nations) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
PA Protected Area
PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
PNGATI Brazil’s National Policy on Environmental and Territorial Management of Indigenous Land
(Política Nacional de Gestão Ambiental e Territorial em terras indígenas)
REDD+ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the role of
conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon
stocks in developing countries
Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012
RSPO Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
RTRS Roundtable on Responsible Soy
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
SEI Stockholm Environment Institute
SIA Sustainability Impact Assessment
TEU Treaty on European Union
TFEU Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
TIPNIS Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (Territorio Indígena y Parque
Nacional Isiboro Sécure), protected area and Native Community Land in Bolivia
UN United Nations
UNDRIP United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNGPs United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
USA United States of America
WHO World Health Organization
WRI World Resources Institute
WWF World Wide Fund for Nature

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The wildfires that consumed thousands of hectares of forest in Bolivia and Brazil during 2019 brought
international attention to the Amazon. The loss of the forest, noted the world’s press, is not just the concern
of the countries themselves but is a preoccupation of humanity as a whole since it serves a

AMAZON is a our best protection against further catastrophic global warming.

The initial rejection by both governments of outside assistance for the fires, was on sovereignty (SR), and on the grounds that the fires were part of a normal cycle of tropical forestry management only exacerbated the situation. The President of France’s call for emergency talks on the Amazon fires at the G7 meeting in August 2019 led to an undiplomatic altercation with President of Brazil. Others within Brazil including scientists, former ministers, indigenous peoples and non-governmental organisations criticised the stance of the President

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sovereign state is a state that has the highest authority over a territory

 International law exceptions to state soverignty : COCOO TO CHALLENGE ANSR, TO SAVE AMAZON

• no defined population,
• no defined territory,
• a government under another,
• no capacity to interact with other sovereign states.
• is not independent

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In the end both Brazil and Bolivia accepted assistance and the worst of the fires were brought
under control.

international treaties such as the Paris Climate Agreement and the International Labour Organization’s Convention 169 on the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples.

harms:
 infrastructure development, mining, hydroelectric projects, large-scale agriculture, ranching,
indiscriminate logging, small-scale farming, oil and gas exploitation and organised crime. All of which are
contributing to loss of forest cover, pollution of soils and rivers, destruction of biodiversity, disruption of
local climate conditions and resulting in devastating impacts on indigenous peoples on their ancestral
lands.

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 Information has been taken into account from indigenous organisations active in the Amazon such as
COICA (Coordinadora de las Organizaciones de la Cuenca Amazonica), APIB (Articulacao dos Povos
Indigenas do Brasil) and CIDOB (Coordinadora de Pueblos Indigenas del Oriente Boliviano)

AN = Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and the French Overseas Department of French Guiana

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WHY COCOO MUST PROTECT THE AMAZON

Indigenous peoples in the Latin America region comprise a population of 42 million, approximately 8 % of
the total population, and represent 17 % of those in extreme poverty (World Bank, 2015)

The Amazon region covers 40 % of the land mass of South America. The EU member countries could be fitted into this area one and a half times. The region is within the territories of nine States – Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and French Guiana, a French Overseas Department and part of the EU.

The Amazon draws carbon dioxide from the atmosphere thereby cooling the planet and stores through its 390 billion trees an estimated 300 billion tons of carbon.
It is often referred to as the lungs of the planet. It represents over half of the world’s remaining tropical
forest. It is also and vitally the most biodiverse place on earth, with 16 000 species of tree, more than 1 000
species of bird, 80 000 species of plant and more than 3 000 species of fish (WWF, n.d; Val, 2019). An
estimated 10 % of the planet’s biodiversity is believed to be found in the region although scientists
acknowledge that they have barely scratched the surface of the vast multiplicity of flora and fauna that the
forest contains. The Amazon is also a vast river system supplying 20 % of the world’s fresh water into the
ocean. It recycles half of the rainfall in water vapour creating what have been termed flying rivers that
sustain agriculture in the Amazon and far beyond. It is above all a complex environment which is largely
self-regulating comprising a multitude of different ecosystems forming ‘a single ecological functioning
entity, in which the many parts depend on the ecological integrity of the whole biome’ (WWF, 2014, p. 21).
As such it is vulnerable to large-scale human disturbances which have over time disrupted its natural
balance.

‘extractive activities within indigenous peoples’ lands and territories undertaken without
adequate consultation or consent are the main source of serious violations of their human rights, including violence, criminalisation and forced displacement’.

The Amazon is home to 38 million people, including an indigenous population of 1.5 million, composed of
about 385 distinct ethno-linguistic groups. There are also an estimated 200 uncontacted or voluntarily
isolated indigenous groups living in the Amazonian region of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and
Venezuela (IACHR, RAISG, ACTO12). In addition to the indigenous population, there are afro-descendant
communities (Quilombolas in Brazil) which benefit from a similar status to the indigenous peoples as well
as riverine and forest-dwelling communities who gain their livelihoods through low impact subsistence.
There are 522 conservation areas in the Amazon covering 22 % of the region and 3 344 recognised
indigenous territories accounting for a further 30 %. Together these lands represent over 50 % of the
Amazon that is officially subjected to strict regulations regarding the protection of forestland and
biodiversity (Walker, 2020). By far the largest extent of protected areas is in Brazil. Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela
and Ecuador have between 20 % and 30 % and Colombia, Peru and Suriname between 10 % and 20 % of
the Amazon biome within protected areas (WWF, 2014). These areas are not always respected in practice,
however, and there are cases where, despite having declared them as protected areas, concessions for the
exploitation of resources are granted (Walker, 2020).

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Environmental challenges

Forest clearance worldwide causes 15 % of greenhouse gases(Ricketts, 2010). As one of the largest carbon
stocks, the rate of deforestation in the Amazon is critical. Since 1978, it is estimated that over 750 000
square kilometres of forest have been destroyed in the Amazon (Mongabay, 2018). In Brazil alone, in the
period 2012 to 2019, over 500 000 square kilometres of forest were lost.

For a few short years, rates of deforestation slowed as a result of tighter environmental laws, forest codes and better implementation but resumed their high levels after 2012-14. In Brazil deforestation increased again in the months following the election of President Bolsonaro. The wildfires that occurred in 2019 in the Brazilian, Bolivian and other parts of the Amazon reduced forest cover significantly16. At one point the Brazilian Space Institute
identified 76 000 separate fire incidences in the region17. It is estimated that 27 % of the Amazon biome
will be without trees by 2030 if the current rate of deforestation is not stopped

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Unsustainable exploitation of natural resources

Small-scale farming developed with the spread of highways through the region in the 1970s bringing
colonists ready to clear the forest and make a livelihood and escape poverty and landlessness in other parts
of the country. However, it is large-scale mechanised agriculture for the production of soy and other export
commodities such as palm oil together with ranching which have been the two principal drivers of the
severe deforestation in the Amazon (Piotrowski, 2019). In Brazil, for example, conversion of forest to
pasture for cattle ranching is estimated to be responsible for about 80 % of deforestation much of the rest

In addition to authorised mining, the Amazon region has been impacted by illegal mining especially of
gold. A map prepared by an environmental network in 2018 shows 2 312 illegal GOLD mining sites in 245 areas in six countries

 68 % of the region’s protected areas and indigenous territories overlap with planned or
existing oil and gas, mining, hydro-electric and road-building projects23.
In 2007 former President Rafael Correa of Ecuador offered to desist permanently from exploiting oil in the
Yasuni National Park in exchange for USD 3.6 billion from the international community. The socalled Yasuni-ITT initiative was abandoned after less than 10 % of the target was received….SO, government has re-opened the Yasuni reserve up to further oil extraction including in areas where
voluntarily isolated indigenous peoples live.

The human and environmental damage of these activities is
recognised. In Peru’s western Amazon, for example, decades of pouring waste into rivers or leaking open
pits and pipelines have infiltrated water supplies with heavy metals which have moved up the food chain
affecting animals and people

. In Peru, companies involved often threaten communities with job losses
or other retribution for objecting to the environmental impacts or else leaders are co-opted by bribes

Critical to the industrialisation of the Amazon and its deforestation, have been the extensive highways and
energy infrastructure that has been developed. The first major highways were constructed in the 1970s. In
Brazil, BR 230 cut east – west and BR 163 cut north – south. Initially developed to open up the region for
economic development, they were also part of a massive resettlement programme offering land and loans
to poor landless peasants. Funded by the World Bank,

cocoo v world bank

the programme turned out to be a failure as small
farmers were soon unable to make a living on the thin exhausted soils. Large-scale ranching and soy
plantations incorporated these small farms and further cut back the forest. The highway network facilitates
the access of these commodities to foreign markets. The highways helped create the conditions for a
multitude of roads to be constructed off them, many unauthorised. They have become conduits for further
incomers, loggers and miners and resulting deforestation. An estimated 85 % of deforestation takes place
within 50 kilometres from a road and nearly all is illegal26. The Interoceanic highway linking Brazil to the
Peru’s Pacific ports and running through both country’s tropical forest has caused increased
deforestation. The regional infrastructure project involving 12 countries, the Initiative for the Integration
of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA), if previous experiences are any guide, may put
further pressures on the Amazon28. Some projects under the auspices of IIRSA have already generated
resistance from indigenous peoples and local communities as was the case with the Jirau and Santo
Antonio dams on the Madeiro River in Brazil or the highway through an indigenous territory and
conservation area in Bolivia (TIPNIS). A study suggests that 1 347 indigenous and local communities are
affected29.

The USD 37.4 billion project consists of 335 projects including dams, roads, waterways and ports to help to increase exports. The
impacts on indigenous peoples and local communities and the environment for those projects planned in the Amazon have not
been evaluated.

bolsonaro in 2017 allowed those who have illegally cleared areas of public land in the Amazon to
legalise their landholdings. It has been dubbed a land-grabbers charter32. President Bolsonaro greatly
weakened the environmental ministry in 2019 by cutting its budget by 25 %, a decision which led to the
suspension of contributions by Norway, Germany and other states to the Amazon Fund, a mechanism to
raise funds to support action to prevent deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

While indigenous peoples’ right to lands and resources is generally recognised in the Amazon countries,
there are ongoing delays in legal recognition and demarcation, the unlawful appropriation of indigenous
territories by State or third parties, and lack of monitoring by State authorities to prevent incursions by
unauthorised outsiders

Indigenous peoples’ lands may be protected in law, but ministries of mining, energy or agriculture have
authorised developments on indigenous peoples’ lands notwithstanding. Concessions to oil and mining
operations, for example, are estimated to overlap as much as 24 % of indigenous peoples’ territories
(Wayne Walker, 2020). The conflicts that these activities engender, sometimes leading to formal complaints
to the authorities, the intervention of national courts or international bodies, and civil disobedience should
in the Amazonian countries be regulated through the consultative procedures established under ILO
Convention

Indigenous peoples have a right to be consulted in order to obtain their free and informed
consent prior to the development of activities that may affect their lands and resources. In practice, this is
not always the case,

as noted by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the
ILO , Hydroelectric dams have had damaging impacts on indigenous peoples. In Brazil, the water level on the
Xingu River has fallen as a result of the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric project, which has in
turn impacted the region’s ecosystems and the survival of local communities (IACHR, 2019, para. 83). The
Bala-Chepete Project in the Madidi Park, Bolivia, will potentially affect four indigenous territories and it is
estimated that at least 49 communities would be flooded (IACHR, 2019, para.82). The oil and gas sector has
also important impacts in the Amazon region. For every hectare allocated for conservation in the region,
there are around 2.5 hectares on which the petroleum industry has a concession (Quintero et al, 2017). In
many cases they are situated near to or overlap with natural parks, forest reserves, and indigenous lands.

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Violence and criminalisation

Intimidation, violence and murders of indigenous leaders and activists are increasingly prevalent.
Altogether, registered murders, attempted murders, and death threats against leaders and members of
indigenous communities and peoples in the Brazilian Amazon totalled at least 235 cases between 2007
and 2018. Those cases were reportedly associated with territorial conflicts or the defence of land ownership

In several cases, the crimes are not investigated with due diligence and most
perpetrators stay unpunished. Likewise, there is a pattern of criminalisation of
demonstrations or social protests. Indigenous women are particularly affected
by the climate of violence. Mining and other operations bring large numbers of males into the local area
and cases of sexual harassment of indigenous women are prevalent. Contamination of rivers can mean
that women often have to travel further to find uncontaminated water. Indigenous women leaders have
also been victims of the spate of killings of environmental defenders37.

The multiple obstacles to access to justice faced by indigenous peoples are often a result of the lack of
funds needed to hire a lawyer, language barriers, ignorance of their human rights or the absence of an
intercultural approach by the justice system operators. Those initiating a lawsuit encounter a very high
burden of proof to make a case of environmental damage (high costs of technical tests and scientific or
expert opinion) and face constant threats. Moreover, the companies or business groups they are up against
are typically powerful economic agents in the countries in which they operate, so that there is little political willingness to guarantee due access to justice. These circumstances have forced indigenous peoples to seek justice in countries where the companies are registered, with only limited success

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 Regional environmental treaties

All Amazonian States (apart from French Guiana) are members of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty
Organization (ACTO) with a mandate to promote sustainable development in the Amazon basin. Founded
in 1978, with the aim of balancing economic development with conservation while respecting national
sovereignty, it is a space for soft diplomacy rather than dynamic action in the face of the disasters now
impacting the Amazon

cocoo: acto must be amended

-Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname signed the Leticia Pact (Pacto de
Leticia por la Amazonía) in September 2019 with the aim of tackling deforestation and forest degradation
of the Amazon.

-the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public
Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (2018), also known
as Escazú Agreement, which has been signed by all Amazonian countries apart from Venezuela and
Suriname, and has been ratified by Bolivia and Guyana …Its goal is to protect the right to a healthy environment for both present and the future generations. It is the first regional environmental agreement in Latin Americaand the only binding agreement stemming from the UN Conference on Sustainable Development(Rio+20)…. it is the first environmental agreement that includes specific provisions on environmental human rights defenders. In 2011, the IACHR appointed a Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders

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International framework of environmental rights

The significance of the biodiverse Amazon forest has been acknowledged by the UNESCO which declared
National Parks in seven Amazonian countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname and
Venezuela) as world heritage sites meaning that these sites need conservation and protection. Of particular
relevance for the Amazon biosystem is the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) and the resulting
legally binding Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000) as well as the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic
Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation to the Convention
on Biological Diversity (2010). While the former has been ratified by all countries of the Amazon region, the
Nagoya Protocol has been ratified by Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela and France, signed but not
ratified by Brazil and Colombia, and not signed at all by Suriname. With the exception of Bolivia, all other
countries in the region have also ratified the third and latest International Tropical Timber Agreement
(ITTA) by the International Tropical Timber Organization, which was adopted in 2006 and promotes the
trade of sustainably and legally harvested timber, and the conservation of tropical forests. All countries but
Venezuela, which has only signed the treaty, have also ratified the UN Minamata Convention on Mercury
with its aim to phase out the manufacturing as well as the export and import of products containing
mercury by 2020. Given the detrimental effects of the mercury used in gold mining and the resulting
pollution of the Amazon basin, this commitment is of particular importance in order to protect a healthy
environment (WWF, 2018).

The Amazonian countries, with the exception of Guyana, are States Parties to the American Convention on
Human Rights and have, apart from Venezuela, also ratified its Additional Protocol on Human Rights in the
Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, also known as ‘Protocol of San Salvador’ which in Art. 11
guarantees the right to a healthy environment and declares States parties as responsible to ‘promote the
protection, preservation, and improvement of the environment’ (Art. 11.2). All countries have ratified the
Paris Agreement and have thus obligated themselves to limit the global temperature rise to below 2
degrees Celsius before industrial levels and aim to keep the increase at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

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Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos
Naturais, IBAMA), the Chico Mendes Institute for the Conservation of Biodiversity (Instituto Chico Mendes
de Conservação da Biodiversidade, ICMBio), a National Environment Council (Conselho Nacional do Meio
Ambiente, CONAMA) and a National Space Research Agency (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais,
INPE) providing annual official estimates of deforestation in the Amazon and forest fire information.

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The implementation gap

Despite the ratification of international treaties concerning environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights
as well as extensive national legislation and decisions binding on States made by the IACtHR,
implementation in the Amazonian States is generally weak. One reason for the lack of implementation is
that States have contradictory laws

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 Role of the EU

 Art. 3 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) the EU pledges to contribute to the
protection of human rights in its relations with the wider world

. In Art. 21 of the TEU the EU acknowledges that its external action shall be guided by its founding principles including ‘the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity, the principles of equality and solidarity, and respect for the principles of the United Charter and international law’, which is reiterated in Art. 205 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

The 2015 – 2019 EU Action Plan on Human Rights includes policies on indigenous peoples in action points 9, 16 and 17 including the commitment to develop EU policy in line with the UNDRIP.102 The proposed 2020 – 2024 EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy commits to supporting indigenous peoples including “by upholding the principle of free, prior and informed consent in all decisions affecting them”

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FUNDING

-Plan for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, provides FUNDS for the protection of
biodiversity and ecosystems in the EU’s external relations.

-ec’s European Green Deal (2019)108 stress that the EU
ensures that all its policies are consistent with the Paris Climate Agreement and the 2030 Agenda, and
therefore promote sustainable agriculture and contribute to the climate neutrality objective.

– The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)

-the Emergency Fund has provided grants to indigenous human rights defenders [COCOO], at risk in Latin America, Asia and Africa in order to ensure their safety by covering expenses for legal representation and medical assistance, inter alia .egs:  The EU has provided financial support to projects:  addressing land-grabbing;  strengthening land governance in 40 countries, with a budget of 240 million Euros. ;  GRANTS to support human rights defenders and organizations working on land-grabbing, climate change and indigenous peoples’rights….in Brazil human rights defenders including indigenous leaders are supported through grants

The EP asks the European Union to conduct independent impact assessments prior to the conclusion of
trade agreements, to provide for an effective complaint mechanism for victims of human rights violations
and to appoint a standing rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, who will monitor the human
rights situation of indigenous peoples and the implementation of UNDRIP and ILO Convention

 EP adopted the Resolution on transparent and accountable management of natural resources in developing countries: the case of forests (2018), recognises that forests are often the traditional territories of
indigenous peoples, who are thus particularly affected by forest destruction and land grabs for the
expansion of plantations.  indigenous peoples have a crucial role in the
sustainable management of natural resources and forest conservation, and  suggests a complaint mechanism which gives special consideration to the rights of indigenous peoples. Moreover, based on its Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan 2003, the EU created the EU Timber Regulation which came into force in March 2013113. The Regulation aims to reduce illegal logging by ensuring that illegally harvested timber cannot be sold on the EU

On 23 July 2019, the EC adopted an EU Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests

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EU policy frameworks addressing the climate emergency : 

– the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy:  climate and environmental risks MUST be fully
managed by financial institutions

-Euroclimaplus programme, supports environmental sustainability and climate change in Latin
America, including Amazon.

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 the (EU-MERCOSUR) FTA

On 2019, after 20 years of negotiations, the EU and the MERCOSUR  reached an agreement in principle

(to set up a trade union)

Brazil is the only ‘full’ Amazonian member of the Mercosur, the other
Amazonian countries with the exception of French Guyana are all ‘associate countries’ of the trade union

 By removing tariffs and allowing certain quotas of duty-free MERCOSUR and EU exports, the production of these commodities will further increase climate change….and the agreement is the largest trade agreement the European Union has ever concluded

However, ec argues that the agreement will protect the environment by combatting climate
change and deforestation in the MERCOSUR region, as both sides are obliged to
implement environmental laws by neither derogating from laws nor by failing to enforce
their implementation…also, the agreement ‘will promote sustainable production chains. 

the FTA, is still subject to the ratification of all Member States of the Eu and MERCOSUR. 

the fta says that ‘increased trade should not come at the expense of the environment or labour
conditions’ and states that the agreement shall in fact promote sustainable development, and that will include sustainability commitments on management of forests, including the fight against illegal logging

<> cocoo:  eu and members should ban imports of: beef, timber, fruits/vegs(illegal pesticides) etc .. from the 9AN…on wpi grounds… but also on clcp grounds, as good firms/banks [that do not produce/import/fund, bad firms -that cause externalities-, are at a clcp disadvantage wrt bad firms/banks

When deforestation in the Amazon increased by 84 % in just one year in 2019, and brasil President
Bolsonaro declared his intentions of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, the French President and Irish
Prime Minister threatened to block the FTA if Bolsonaro’s government would not stop the deforestation in
the Amazon, a statement that later was also backed by the government of Luxembourg and
Austria.

 so far, the EU-Mercosur proposal lacks sufficient safeguards to ensure it will not contribute to deforestation. 

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Corporate Social Responsibility and European Businesses

The international community has a common interest in preserving the world’s forests, and their ability to
absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the air, in order to reduce the impacts of climate
change. Moreover, the very causes for deforestation and human rights violations in the Amazon have
increasingly been linked to operations of European companies and the globally rising demand for
commodities like soy and beef (Amazon Watch, 2019) .

To date, there is no international legally binding
treaty on the responsibilities of businesses across borders, although the UN is currently drafting such a
treaty.

<> when will that treaty be ratified??

EU has so far been only relied on voluntary commitments of businesses, known as
CSR and Responsible Business Conduct.  Exceptions : such as the conflict
minerals regulation and the timber regulation.

In 2019, the NGO Amazon Watch published a report on the complicity of Northern consumers and
financiers in the destruction of the Amazon. The report makes explicit reference to the biggest financiers
of international soy and cattle companies like Louis Dreyfus, Bunge, ADM and Cargill and Brazil’s biggest
beef importer JBS, which are known to be linked to deforestation in the Amazon and the Cerrado (Amazon
Watch, 2019c). Financiers include European banks such as HSBC (UK), Barclays (UK), Deutsche Bank
(Germany), Commerzbank (Germany) and Santander (Spain). The report points out that while European
companies are mostly not directly participating in deforestation in the Amazon, they nonetheless import
products from companies linked to deforestation and illegal logging. Amazon Watch makes explicit
reference to European companies from Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany and the
United Kingdom that were importing unsustainably sourced commodities such as soy, beef, leather, timber
or sugar.

<> cocoo v  firms/banks/nations/eu

an important CSR initiative is the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
(UNGPs), which were also endorsed in the EU’s 2015 Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy.

the OECD has adopted Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises which constitute a framework
for responsible business conduct in transnational supply chains.

The EU, as well as many corporations, also supports the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), stating that it ‘will pursue this goal through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources, ensuring just transition and economic viability, and taking urgent action on climate change’.

definition of ‘sustainable development’ : one that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’

Given the current unsustainable production of commodities like palm oil, soy, beef or
timber, many international companies have started to commit themselves: eg, The UN Global
Compact initiative,  is the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world with over 10 400 companies
[ most of them are GREENWASHERS]

The OECD has coined the term ‘Responsible Business Conduct’. The EU uses both terms interchangeably. 

The Conflict Minerals Regulation will come into force in January 2021 and aims to stem trade in tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold when it is used to fund armed conflict or involves forced labour

The Timber Regulation adopted in October 2010 prohibits illegally
harvested timber on the EU market.

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EU Member States

France was the first EU Member State to pass a Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law in 2017 which
addresses the impacts of multinational companies on human rights and the environment and requires
companies to implement vigilance plans to which they can be held responsible.

Several EU Member States have established national action plans (NAPs) to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

In regards to environmental protection, Germany and Norway were the biggest donors of
the Amazon Fund in order to support Brazil with the protection of the Amazon.

In 2014, the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), a voluntary and non-binding declaration with the
aim to halt global deforestation, was endorsed at the UN Climate Summit. It now has over 200 supporters
including Governments, multi-national companies, NGOs and groups representing indigenous
communities

<> COCOO WILL BE A SUPPORTER OF NYDF

In 2015, building on the NYDF and in the context of the Paris Climate Agreement, the
Amsterdam Declarations Partnership, was entered into by Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. The overall aim of the declarations is to ensure the production of deforestation-free and sustainable commodities through the cooperation with the private sector and with producer countries 

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 Consumers

 labelling products that are fair trade and deforestation-free, giving consumers the opportunity to make smart choices and support sustainable companies. Such labels are Fairtrade International, the UTZ Rainforest Alliance and Fair for Life.

However, it is not always clear to consumers on which criteria these labels are based and whether the initiative includes commitments to zero-deforestation or is promoting indigenous peoples’ rights or gender
equality. also, labeling lacks enforceability.

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Policy options

constitute together a framework, for eu to address deforestation, biodiversity loss and human rights violations in the Amazon.

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1/ Indigenous peoples as forest guardians

A World Resources Institute (WRI) study quantifies the financial gain in securing indigenous territories (ITs) .  ITs in Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia, prevent the release of up to 59 Mega-tonnes of CO2 amounting to a total value of USD 25–34 billion over 20 years. The contribution of indigenous territories to local and regional ecosystem-service benefits, it states, includes regulation of local climate and water recycling, hydrological services, pollination, nutrient retention, and recreation and tourism. These activities are estimated to bring benefits of between USD 679 and USD 1 530 billion over the next 20 years.

the best and most practical policy for keeping the Amazon intact is to place it in the hands of its
historical owners.

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2/ Protected areas

About 20 % of the region is protected through nature reserves and the data available shows they are effective barriers against deforestation …They also provide spaces for scientific study as well as opportunities
for diverse forest to be replanted and restored…. Amazonian States are committed to extending these
conservation areas. Unfortunately, most are still made without proper consent or involvement of indigenous peoples. 

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3/ The rule of law and human rights defenders:

 there is nonetheless more than 50 % of the Amazon area under the protection of conservation
areas or within indigenous territories….but, there is illegal expansion of the agribusiness frontier and unauthorised mining and logging. In Brazil, as noted by the indigenous peoples, the Amazon is becoming a lawless place where violence goes unchecked

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4/ Legal framework for EU-based companies:

The pressure on companies to source their products sustainably has come from consumers and ngos.

eg. The Soy Moratorium, an agreement by transnational grain companies to stop sourcing soy from deforested lands was a result of consumer and NGO pressure….launched in 2006, it resulted in an almost entire halt to deforesting by soy producers while reaching higher productivity on existing land.

eg. a less successful programme, has been the timber certification, like the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the RACS ,Rainforest Alliance Certification Schemes

eg. the Investor Statement on deforestation and forest fires in the Amazon signed by 230 investor companies in September 2019, calling for companies to ensure they do not contribute to deforestation

but….many EU-based companies continue to source commodities from the
Amazon contributing to further deforestation

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5/ The right of nature

-The decision to give nature a legal personality in the Constitution of Ecuador,

-the Maori of New Zealand have seen the Whanganui River recognised as a person in law raising the possibility that nature might effectively sue if it is damaged by humans

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The European Parliament SHOULD

WRT Indigenous peoples

1. Use its budgetary and scrutiny competences to enhance support for civil society organisations and
academic institutions, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, to continue research on the impacts
of extractive and development activities on indigenous communities in the Amazon as well as on the
root causes and structural problems affecting their human rights.

2. Recommend a specific targeted programme on Amazonia under EU budgets for climate change and
green development, such as the Euroclima+ programme, to channel technical assistance that
directly reaches indigenous peoples to support self-government, territorial control and
management.

3. Recommend that the above-mentioned programme include support to sustain forest-related
knowledge and pilot alternative sustainable indigenous economic activities including by facilitating
access to EU markets, in line with the proposal to redirect finance to support more sustainable landuse practices in the EU communication of July 2019 on stepping up EU action to protect and restore
the world’s forests.

4. Call for continued support for capacity-building of indigenous peoples in relation to human rights
including on businesses and their responsibility to respect human and indigenous peoples’ rights.
Policy Department, Directorate-General for External Policies

5. Support Amazonian indigenous peoples and other indigenous peoples to secure a dedicated
funding window under the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) for indigenous climate change mitigation
and adaption initiatives.

6. Recommend to EU member states that they scrutinize the implementation of World Bank and other
international financial institutions, including the European Investment Bank, where they are
shareholders, to ensure that lending policies respect the rights established in the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal
peoples, in particular the right to self-determination and the principle of free, prior and informed
consent which should be a requirement in the event of large-scale projects likely to affect indigenous
peoples.

7. Call for continued support to the United Nations mechanisms including the Special Rapporteur on
Indigenous Peoples, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues and call their attention to the specific situation of Amazon indigenous
peoples, especially to those living in voluntary isolation and initial contact.

8. Examine ways and means of supporting the implementation of the recommendations issued by the
IACHR in its 2019 report on the Situation of Human Rights of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of
the Pan-Amazon Region and in its 2013 report on Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and
Initial Contact in the Americas.

9. Recommend that EU Member States which have not done so ratify International Labour Organization
Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples.
Protected areas and indigenous territories

10. Call for support to efforts by Amazonian countries to extend and rehabilitate Protected Areas
through technical and financial assistance.

11. Invite the Commission and EEAS to consider working with the Amazonian countries, including the
Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization and UNESCO, to identify and protect further World
Heritage sites containing rich cultural and biological diversity in the region ensuring that, where
these areas coincide with indigenous lands, indigenous peoples are active managers.

12. Request that Indigenous Amazonian proposals for community conserved forest areas be endorsed
and supported in EU communications and indigenous initiatives for sustainable forest management
be supported in political dialogues with Amazonian countries.
Rule of law and human rights defenders

13. Call for a programme to support civil society organizations working to protect the environment of
the Amazon and human and indigenous peoplesincluding by allocating specific funds under the EU
human rights defenders programme to climate activists and environmental defenders in line with
the commitments of the proposed EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, 2020 – 2024.

14. Request EU delegations to continue to take up systematically cases of environmental defenders
facing threats of violence with the countries concerned in line with paragraph 10 of the EU Guidelines
on Human Rights Defenders.

15. Recommend the enhancement of programmes to promote the rule of law in the Amazon region, in
line with the EU – Latin America and Caribbean relations agreement of May 2019 to promote, inter
alia, democracy, the rule of law and human rights. The programme could include technical assistance
to support ministries charged with environmental protection and justice in the Amazon.
Challenges for environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights in the Amazon region

16. Propose that the EU institutions work with member states of the Amazonian Cooperation Treaty
Organization and indigenous peoples and environmental defenders to develop initiatives to combat
organised crime, and illegal land grabs and deforestation in the Amazon.
Business and due diligence

17. Ensure that implementation of the EU – Mercosur Treaty respects the rights of indigenous peoples
under ILO Convention 169 which Mercosur states have ratified157, the United Nations Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and
relevant jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System, including the right to be
consulted and to obtain their free and informed consent prior to any development activity affecting
their lands, territories and resources.

18. Call for the establishment by the EU of an effective, affordable, and culturally accessible grievance
mechanism where indigenous peoples can address allegations of European corporate violations of
their rights, including their decision-making rights over developmental activities in their territories
or impacting on their rights.

19. Recommend that the EU and EU Member States include reference to indigenous peoples and the
rights contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in
the relevant and emerging frameworks for due diligence and/or duty of vigilance, and in Business
and Human Rights National Action Plans, especially when activities might affect peoples in voluntary
isolation and initial contact.

20. Recommend that EU Member States harmonise their OECD National Contact Points processes to
facilitate access by indigenous communities and improve mediation and public determinations of
the allegations raised, including to complaints related to indigenous peoples in the Amazon region,
especially to those that include areas where peoples in isolation or initial contact live.

21. Ensure that companies based, registered or otherwise having a significant market or administrative
presence in the EU are held to account for violations of indigenous peoples´ rights in the Pan Amazon
region, taking the decisive steps to allow that companies responsible of those violations can be
accountable of their acts and repair the consequences. To this end the EP should urgently endorse
the findings of the EC study on due diligence requirements through the supply chain of January 2020
and support mandatory due diligence legislation for companies and investors.

22. Explore demand-side initiatives at the EU level that guarantee human rights monitoring and due
diligence, with an associated enforcement and sanctions regime, to ensure that products and
commodities entering the EU market are not sourced from areas in which customary land tenure
regimes are not recognised or respected in practice, or where land conflicts are associated with
natural resource extraction. In this respect support the maintenance of the Soy Moratorium and its
extension to the Amazon savannah (‘cerrado’).

23. Support further discussion under the auspices of the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights on
ways and means of strengthening protection of indigenous peoples’ rights in the Amazon region.
This should include the promotion of discussions and specific standards for the protection of
indigenous peoples, with particular attention to peoples in isolation and initial contact.

24. Continue to push the EU and Member States to engage in the discussions of the Open-ended
Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and other business enterprises
with respect to human rights regarding a proposed treaty on business and human rights as a means
of preventing the most egregious violations of human rights of indigenous peoples arising from
certain practices by governments and business enterprises.

25. Propose an EU-initiated multi-stakeholder dialogue on indigenous peoples´ rights and business
enterprises operating in the Amazon region focused on regulation in accordance with the
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other relevant international standards. Such a
multi-stakeholder dialogue should include businesses from outside the EU area.

26. Recommend that EU-based companies provide disclosures on land acquisitions in the Amazon
region.

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 The right of nature

27. Consider the viability and legal implications of alerting the International Criminal Court (ICC) to a
possible crime against humanity in Brazil’s Amazon affecting the integrity of the Amazon biome,
causing the illegal dispossession of indigenous peoples’ lands, and the threatening the lives of
indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation in line with the ICC’s 2016 Policy Paper158.

28. Consider a study to examine the case for giving legal personality to nature, thereby strengthening
the legal protection of the environment and criminalizing actions wilfully threatening biodiversity.

 

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