Over 70 Environmental and civil society organisations have penned an open letter criticising far-right president Bolsonaro for his attacks on, and attempts to control, NGO’s in Brazil. You can read the letter in full below.
Today, on the Ninth of November, through the news article “Bolsonaro administration plans rule to control the action of NGOs in the Amazon”, published by O Estado de São Paulo newspaper, we became aware that one of the goals of the Amazon Council is “to obtain control of 100% of the NGOs that work in the Amazon Region, by 2022, in order to authorize the operation of only those that serve national interests”. Such goal would allegedly be related to the objective of “creating a regulatory framework for the operation of NGOs”, which is stated in the official documents of the Council.
The actions of civil society organizations are a living expression of plural ideas, whose freedom is guaranteed under the Brazilian Constitution. Any attempt to control such actions would ultimately represent an attempt to silence constitutional freedoms. The Brazilian Supreme Court, on March 6, 2019, decided that “any legal provision that has the clear purpose of controlling or destroying the force of critical thinking, which is indispensable to the democratic regime, is unconstitutional”.
Thus, the report that, in official meetings that involve a large number of ministries, members of the current administration expressly presented proposals that violate the democratic rule in force in this county is extremely serious and disgusting. The Brazilian Constitution forbids any type of interference by the State in the creation, functioning or even standing of Brazilian civil society organizations. The autonomy of civil society, as well as free press and economic freedom, are essential and immutable constitutional clauses. The proposals mentioned in the news article, and referred to in internal government documents, could only be compared to those made by other authoritarian regimes around the world, in which freedom of press, expression and association have been suppressed to make room for autocracies.
The attacks from the Bolsonaro administration to civil society are a sad staple of its way of doing politics. Attempts at controlling NGOs were exercised before by the Executive branch and duly rejected by Congress. Such was the case of Provisional Measure (MP) 870/2019. In December 2019, agents from the National Intelligence Agency (Abin) were sent to the Chile-Madrid Climate Conference (COP25) to spy on Brazilian NGOs. In Brazil, the President of the Republic himself has disdained the Constitution many times, participating in demonstrations whose purposes was to attack other branches of the Government. In a recent statement, Bolsonaro even complained about not being able to “kill this cancer called NGOs”.
In spite of the enduring and revolting smear campaign against NGOs moved by government officials, it is worth recalling that Brazil already has legislation to regulate third sector organizations – the so-called Marco Regulatório das Organizações da Sociedade Civil (MROSC), established by Law 13.019/2014 and Decree 8.726/16.
The National Council of the Legal Amazon, an inept institution, with no social representation and hardly any positive outcome in the defense of the forest, should present the country with a plan to reduce deforestation, environmental crimes, land grabbing and forest fires. Instead, what we see is that this Council is being used as a means to devise a plan to silence critics of the government and to stifle democracy.
Under the Bolsonaro administration, democracy, like forests and their inhabitants, face enormous risk. That is why the undersigned organizations call on the Brazilian people to join the initiatives to defend the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional peoples and to support their struggle to defend the Amazon, democracy and all constitutional rights.
Signed by:
- ACT Promoção da Saúde
- AMAR Associação de Defesa do Meio Ambiente de Araucária
- Amigos da Terra – Amazônia Brasileira
- Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil – APIB
- Associação Brasileira de ONGs – Abong
- Associação Mineira de Defesa do Ambiente – Amda
- Associação do Movimento dos Agentes Agroflorestais Indígenas no Acre (AMAAIAC)
- Associação de Preservação do Meio Ambiente e da Vida – APREMAVI
- Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado
- Centro Brasil no Clima
- Cidades Afetivas
- COESUS Coalizão Não FRACKING Brasil
- Comissão Pró-Índio do Acre (CPI-Acre)
- Conectas Direitos Humanos
- Delibera Brasil
- FASE – Federação de Órgãos para Assistência Social e Educacional
- Fórum Brasileiro de ONGs – FBOMS
- Fórum Nacional de Educação Escolar Indígena – FNEEI
- Fundação Grupo Esquel Brasil
- Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica
- Fundação Tide Setubal
- Geledés Instituto da Mulher Negra
- Gestos – Soropositividade, Comunicação e Gênero
- Greenpeace Brasil
- Grupo de Trabalho da Sociedade Civil para a Agenda 2030 (GT 2030)
- Iniciativa Verde
- Instituto Alana
- Instituto Çarakura
- Instituto Centro de Vida – ICV
- Instituto Climainfo
- Idec – Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor
- Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social
- Iepé – Instituto de Pesquisa e Formação Indígena
- Instituto de Defesa do Direito de Defesa – IDDD
- Instituto de Estudos Socioeconômicos – Inesc
- Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia – Ipam
- Instituto Democracia e Sustentabilidade – IDS
- Instituto Fé, Paz e Clima
- Instituto Global Attitude
- Instituto Humanista para Cooperação e Desenvolvimento – Hivos
- Instituto Igarapé
- Instituto Internacional ARAYARA
- Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil
- Instituto MIRA-SERRA
- Instituto Pro Bono
- Instituto Socioambiental – ISA
- Instituto Sou da Paz
- Instituto Talanoa
- Mapa Educação
- Mater Natura – Instituto de Estudos Ambientais
- Observatório do Carvão Mineral
- Observatório do Clima
- Observatório do Código Florestal
- Observatório do Petróleo e Gás
- Organização De Desenvolvimento Sustentável – ODS
- Organização dos Professores Indígenas do Acre (OPIAC)
- ponteAponte
- Plataforma dos Movimentos Sociais pela Reforma do Sistema Político
- Processo de Articulação e Diálogo, PAD
- Projeto Saúde e Alegria
- Rede Conhecimento Social
- Rede das Organizações Não Governamentais da Mata Atlântica – RMA
- Rede de Cooperação Amazônica – RCA
- Rede Justiça Criminal
- SAVE Brasil – Sociedade para a Conservação das Aves do Brasil
- Terra de Direitos
- Toxisphera Associação de Saúde Ambiental
- Transparência Brasil
- Transparência Capixaba
- Uneafro Brasil
- WWF Brasil
- 350.org Brasil
- Fórum Brasileiro de ONGs e Movimentos Sociais para o Meio Ambiente e o Desenvolvimento- FBOMS
You can read the letter published in the original Portuguese here.
