Brazilian government pressured over human rights resolution on Amazon dam

By AIDA, Amazon Watch, Rainforest Action Network

Organizations Worldwide Call on Brazil to Respect a Resolution from Inter-American Commission to Suspend the Belo Monte Dam

Washington, 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 order to protect indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon.

The letters reached President Rousseff after Brazil’s virulent and strongly worded rejection of the Commission’s resolution sparked the first diplomatic crisis of her administration. Yet in spite of sharpening criticism around the government’s planning of the Belo Monte Dam, the project is slated receive a license to begin construction as soon as this month.