The ceremony honoring indigenist Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips, held on Wednesday, June 11, in Brasília (DF), was marked by particularly symbolic moments. Watch the event broadcast on the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship’s YouTube channel here.
During the event, the Minister of the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic, Sidônio Palmeira, formally issued an apology on behalf of the Brazilian State, acknowledging the defamatory and hateful rhetoric directed at the victims in the context of their disappearance and murder in 2022. The apology also recognized the fundamental role of Indigenous peoples in the search for and location of the bodies, as well as the contribution of local journalism and grassroots and community communication to clarifying the facts. Watch the excerpt on our Instagram.
This gesture represents an important step in the process of recognizing the State’s responsibility for the violations that occurred and is the result of years of mobilization by civil society, family members, social movements, human rights organizations, and the Inter-American Human Rights System.
“Years of mobilization by civil society, the families, and Indigenous leaders pressuring the Brazilian State before the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights,” highlights Raquel da Cruz Lima, coordinator of ARTICLE 19’s Legal Reference Center.
ARTICLE 19 Brazil and South America, together with other organizations, played a significant role in this process, contributing to the request for precautionary measures before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), demanding State action in response to the violations and denouncing the attacks, defamation, and hate speech directed at Dom and Bruno during the search period.
For the organization, the murder of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira constitutes one of the most serious violations of freedom of expression and the right to information in recent Brazil, as it sought to silence reporting on environmental crimes, violations of Indigenous rights, and the activities of criminal groups in the Amazon.
As part of this process of recognition, the winners of the first edition of the Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira Journalism and Communication Award in Defense of the Environment, Indigenous Peoples, and Traditional Communities were also announced – an initiative that reinforces the importance of preserving their memory, legacy, and struggle.
More than a symbolic gesture, the apology reaffirms a commitment to truth, memory, justice, and guarantees of non-repetition. Dom and Bruno were murdered for defending human rights, Indigenous peoples, and the forest. Their legacy lives on, and their struggle remains a call to protect journalists, communicators, environmental defenders, and traditional communities throughout the country.
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