The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) delivered its judgment on 21 November 2024, ruling on Brazil’s responsibility for the violation of the human rights of a quilombola community located on Alcântara Island, in the state of Maranhão, in connection with the activities of a Space Launch Center built on their traditional lands. Between the 1980s and 2001, approximately 312 families belonging to 31 quilombola communities living in the region were relocated to “agrovillas” due to the operations of the launch base. Between 2008 and 2023, the State initiated administrative procedures to identify, demarcate, and assign property rights over the territories of these communities, but only in areas outside the perimeter of the launch center. In 2021, it also issued individual property titles to the residents of the agrovillas.

The decision is noteworthy for its focus on the specific characteristics and needs of quilombola peoples. On the one hand, the Court recognized that the Alcântara quilombola communities are entitled to the specific rights granted to “tribal peoples”. Although they are not indigenous peoples, but rather descendants of freed or escaped Afro-descendants, the Court found that “[g]iven their particular relationship with the territory in which they live, their worldview, cultural identity, and forms of social organization, quilombola communities are to be characterized as tribal peoples under international human rights law” (para. 66). This qualification was shared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the representatives of the communities, and the State itself.

Accordingly, the Court held that Brazil violated Art. 21 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR, 1969), which requires States to guarantee the collective property rights of indigenous and tribal peoples through delimitation, demarcation, and titling of their territories. The violation arose both from the issuance of individual titles instead of collective recognition, and from the failure to guarantee full use and enjoyment of the communities’ ancestral territory.

The IACtHR also found that Brazil had violated the right to free, prior, and informed consultation, as protected by Articles 13 (freedom of thought and expression), 23 (political rights), and 26 (economic, social and cultural rights) of the Convention. The Court determined that Brazil failed to adequately consult the quilombola communities regarding the conclusion of bilateral agreements with other States, such as Ukraine and the United States, related to the operation of the launch center, despite the potential negative impact on local communities.

Furthermore, the Court found that Brazil had undermined the “collective life project” of the Alcântara quilombola communities, generating profound feelings of injustice, powerlessness, and insecurity, exacerbated by the lack of an adequate judicial response. This constituted violations of several provisions of the ACHR, including Articles 8 (right to a fair trial), 11 (protection of honor and dignity), 24 (equality before the law), and 25 (judicial protection).

The IACtHR reaffirmed its prior jurisprudence regarding the special protections afforded by the ACHR to indigenous and tribal peoples, reiterating its interpretation of Article 21 as safeguarding their communal property systems. It also reiterated the obligation of States to recognize the collective legal personality of indigenous peoples and the link between the right to consultation and the right to self-determination.

On the other hand, the Court considered the structural discrimination historically suffered by the Afro-descendant population in Brazil to be a relevant factor in the case. In this regard, it stated that “[a] State incurs international responsibility when, in the face of structural discrimination, it fails to adopt specific measures in response to the particular situation of victimization that gives rise to the vulnerability of a group of individuals,” and that this “also requires a specific protective response” (para. 300). Accordingly, the Court concluded that, in the case of the quilombola communities, the State violated the right to equality before the law and the prohibition of discrimination enshrined in Article 24 of the American Convention, as well as several other specific rights recognized therein.

 

(Comment by Bernardo Mageste Castelar Campos)