A Brazilian indigenous organisation has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate President Jair Bolsonaro for “genocide” and “ecocide.”
The Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) alleged that the far-right president has led “an explicit, systematic and intentional anti-indigenous policy” since taking office in 2019.
They are also accusing him of persecuting native peoples and destroying their homelands.
The group’s legal coordinator, Eloy Terena, said, “We believe there are acts in progress in Brazil that constitute crimes against humanity, genocide and ecocide. Given the inability of the justice system in Brazil to investigate, prosecute and judge these (crimes), we denounce them to the international community.”
Indigenous rights activists also accuse him of exacerbating the devastation that Covid-19 has wrought on their communities with his anti-stay-at-home policies.
It is not the first time indigenous leaders have accused Bolsonaro of attacking their people and homelands.
In January, iconic indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire filed a separate case to the ICC asking the court to investigate Bolsonaro for crimes against humanity, saying the “destruction of the Amazonian forest has accelerated without measure” under his government.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor must now decide whether to pursue the cases.
