Residents of Camp Dalcídio Jurandir at imminent risk of eviction
On 19 November 2019, the judge in charge of the Agrarian Court of Marabá suspended the eviction of families who live at the Dalcídio Jurandir Camp, citing a lack of capacity to carry out the eviction by the Military Police Command of Pará state. A new eviction date will be set in the upcoming days, prolonging the housing and subsistence insecurity faced by the families.
On 17 September 2019, the eviction of the families who live and work in Camp Dalcídio Jurandir, linked to the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), was rescheduled to take place on 5 November 2019.
On the morning of 11 June 2019, a judge on the Agrarian Court Chambers of Marabá, Pará, set a date of 17 September 2019 for the eviction of more than 200 families and human rights defenders that have lived and worked at the Dalcídio Jurandir camp for the past eleven years.
On 11 June 2019, a hearing will take place in relation to the potential eviction of more than 200 families and human rights defenders that live and work at the Maria Bonita farm, in Eldorado do Carajás, in the state of Pará. This is one of a number of hearings due to take place in June, July and August in Para where communities who have inhabited unoccupied lands face the risk of eviction in the midst of ongoing threats. Human rights defenders in Camp Dalcídio Jurandir have been threatened on a number of occasions due to their struggle to have the rights of their community’s access to land guaranteed. Evictions in rural areas of Pará are commonly carried out with violence and intimidation, and often fail to comply with due process guarantees.
Over the last eleven years, residents and land rights defenders of Dalcídio Jurandir Camp have inhabited unoccupied lands to ask for their demarcation and redistribution by the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra). The Federal Constitution of 1998 recognizes that all property must have a social function and if it is unused, it may be redistributed. Since 2008, the inhabitants have been supplying their produce to the city and neighbouring municipalities in the area of Eldorado dos Carajás. The camp has contributed to the local economy through the production and sale of manioc flour, fish, more than 45 kinds of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and cattle in fairs and markets in nearby towns.
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- 22 November 2019 : New eviction date for Dalcídio Jurandir Camp
- 17 September 2019 : Eviction of residents of Camp Dalcídio Jurandir postponed
- 20 June 2019 : Forced eviction of Camp Dalcídio Jurandir scheduled for 17 September
- 10 June 2019 : Residents of Camp Dalcídio Jurandir at imminent risk of eviction
On 19 November 2019, the judge in charge of the Agrarian Court of Marabá suspended the eviction of families who live at the Dalcídio Jurandir Camp, citing a lack of capacity to carry out the eviction by the Military Police Command of Pará state. A new eviction date will be set in the upcoming days, prolonging the housing and subsistence insecurity faced by the families.
The most recent date for the eviction of residents of the Dalcídio Jurandir Camp had been set for 21 November 2019, after successive postponements. These reschedulings are the result of the work of local and international organisations in denouncing the numerous human rights violations observed in the proceedings, including the lack of an eviction plan for the relocation of families and the lack of a judicial decision on land titles. The affected families are part of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), who have lived and cultivated the land in the Camp for the past eleven years. The Camp is based in Eldorado do Carajás, where the Massacre on the S-Curve took place in 1996, and for which still no one has been convicted.
Front Line Defenders is concerned about the serious and permanent nature of the violations associated with evictions, especially in the context of the mass evictions scheduled for the end of 2019 in the South and Southeast of Pará. Front Line Defenders calls on national and state authorities to protect the rights of people who defend the right to land in Pará.
On 17 September 2019, the eviction of the families who live and work in Camp Dalcídio Jurandir, linked to the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), was rescheduled to take place on 5 November 2019. Over the past eleven years, the residents and land rights defenders of Camp Dalcídio Jurandir have inhabited the unoccupied lands to ensure their demarcation and redistribution by the National Institute of Colonisation and Agrarian Reform (INCRA).
The decision to evict the more than 200 families living and working in the Dalcídio Jurandir Camp was taken in the context of a land titling law suit, but was issued before the court ruled on the land title. This means that they are being evicted from land that the court may eventually find to be theirs.
Front Line Defenders welcomes the postponing of the eviction of the residents of Camp Dalcídio Jurandir, but remains concerned about the context of human rights violations associated with forced evictions. Front Line Defenders calls on national and state level authorities to protect the rights of land rights defenders in Para, including taking all measures to reduce their social vulnerability.
On the morning of 11 June 2019, a judge on the Agrarian Court Chambers of Marabá, Pará, set a date of 17 September 2019 for the eviction of more than 200 families and human rights defenders that have lived and worked at the Dalcídio Jurandir camp for the past eleven years.
The decision to evict the families had been taken summarily in 2008 but had not been enforced due to an agreement by the private company Santa Barbara Xinguara Agriculture and Cattle and the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra) whereby the company would to sell the land sell the land for agrarian reform purposes. The company, which claimed ownership of the land, had then consented to its occupation by the families.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the eviction of residents and human rights defenders residents of the Camp Dalcídio Jurandir. Front Line Defenders remains worried at the high levels of violence against land rights defenders in the municipalities of the Southeast of Pará, especially Eldorado dos Carajás and Pau d’Arco, where two massacres that targeted human rights defenders took place. Front Line Defenders calls on national and state-level authorities to ensure the application of due process in all decisions on the case, and to also take all necessary means to guarantee the physical and psychological protection of human rights defenders at the Camp Dalcídio Jurandir, as well as all the residents of the occupation.
On 17 September 2019, the eviction of the families who live and work in Camp Dalcídio Jurandir, linked to the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), was rescheduled to take place on 5 November 2019.
On 11 June 2019, a hearing will take place in relation to the potential eviction of more than 200 families and human rights defenders that live and work at the Maria Bonita farm, in Eldorado do Carajás, in the state of Pará. This is one of a number of hearings due to take place in June, July and August in Para where communities who have inhabited unoccupied lands face the risk of eviction in the midst of ongoing threats. Human rights defenders in Camp Dalcídio Jurandir have been threatened on a number of occasions due to their struggle to have the rights of their community’s access to land guaranteed. Evictions in rural areas of Pará are commonly carried out with violence and intimidation, and often fail to comply with due process guarantees.
Over the last eleven years, residents and land rights defenders of Camp Dalcídio Jurandir have inhabited unoccupied lands to ask for their demarcation and redistribution by the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra). The Federal Constitution of 1998 recognizes that all property must have a social function and if it is unused, it may be redistributed. Since 2008, the inhabitants have been supplying their produce to the city and neighbouring municipalities in the area of Eldorado dos Carajás. The camp has contributed to the local economy through the production and sale of manioc flour, fish, more than 45 kinds of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and cattle in fairs and markets in nearby towns. Human rights defenders and social movements that claim land rights are often the target of violent attacks, stigmatisation and criminalisation campaigns perpetrated by members of the local agrarian elite. Administrative and judicial measures against defenders and rural workers are commonly employed with the objective of suppressing and fragmenting social movements in rural areas. The private company Santa Barbara Xinguara Agriculture and Cattle, which is demanding the eviction of the communities from the land, has been regularly denounced by human rights defenders for being complicit in attacks and attempted killings against them and against rural workers. The company is a member of the Opportunity Group, and has been subject to a number of formal accusations of money laundering, tax evasion and conspiracy.
Front Line Defenders expresses its concern and condemnation of the evictions and hearings planned for June, July and August 2019, which will increase the vulnerability of local leaders, social movements, human rights defenders and organizations that support the land redistribution processes. There is a credible fear that these hearing may leave more than 2000 families with no place to live or land to work on. Front Line Defenders has received information that at least 11 communities face imminent eviction in the south and southeast of Pará state, in areas with questionable titling of land or that have ongoing administrative processes. Among these locations there are areas of consolidated occupation, such as Camp Dalcidio Jurandir (Maria Bonita farm) as outlined above, or areas where massacres took place and which are still in the process of investigation, such as in the case of Camp Jane Julia (Fazenda Santa Lucia) in Pau D'Arco, a hearing of which is planned to take place on 26 June.
Front Line Defenders has visited the area on previous occasions and has condemned the situation in Para. Front Line Defenders remains concerned about the impunity for crimes committed against human rights defenders and rural workers and the lack of an effective government structure that can respond to threats and attacks against human rights defenders.
