It took ten years for the more than 600,000 people affected by the Marianas (MG) tragedy to see judicial recognition that the world’s largest mining company, BHP, was responsible for the devastating environmental disaster. Over the years, we have not only discussed the payment of just compensation to the victims, but also determined a ruling capable of setting a civilized example that greed and irresponsibility cannot triumph over the environment and human dignity.
The English court’s ruling was the first official admission of guilt of one of the companies involved in the 2015 disaster. The lives of communities and communities, including indigenous people and quilombolas, and the economy of dozens of municipalities were violently affected.
In the years leading up to the decision, victims suffered periods of neglect, pressure and signing an agreement in which they were not heard. Both mayors and those who lost their families, homes, businesses or livelihoods were not consulted. They were told that they could only “abide” or not abide by the agreement that was negotiated on their behalf. Many did not join. They chose to continue fighting for the judicial conviction of those who caused the tragedy, even at the risk of defeat.
Powerful interests sought to dismiss those who refused to abide by the agreement. An advocacy strategy was followed to spread the conviction that a conviction by the English courts of BHP would offend Brazilian sovereignty, distort its original meaning and, believe me, to defend that the Anglo-Australian company, remitting millions of dollars of profits extracted from Brazilian territory abroad, could not be convicted by the judiciary of the country of its headquarters for paying reparations to Brazilian victims.
In the absence of better arguments, the age-old tactic of trying to delegitimize an issue by personally attacking those who make it viable has been used. But they forgot that there are victims who do not bow down to injustice, and lawyers who follow Sobral Pinto’s lesson that “law is not a profession for cowards.” This flexible and combative stance got the English case moving forward, resulting in a verdict.
An exemplary civilizational landmark has been established that there should be no limits in defending human rights and the environment.
Although the conviction is considered a victory in itself, we should not be naive. Those who resist paying reparations to the victims of the Mariana tragedy will not give up. There are already those who claim that the victims will receive “two compensations.” Nothing more than lying. Those who chose to receive compensation from the Convention had to forego the compensation they would have received in the English suit.
There are also other ridiculous arguments. It is suggested that victims can only receive compensation if it is approved in Brazil. How ridiculous! The English judgment was made against a foreign mining company and will be enforced in England, with money to be paid to victims there.
BHP has already been declared guilty. It should be brandished as a trophy by victims, environmentalists and human rights defenders. However, let’s not let our guard down: the battle continues.
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