O crime de genocídio contra os povos indígenas da Terra Yonomami (2019 - 2022)

Abstract

The concept of “genocide”; as codified in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, defines the crime as any act committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, as such. In the same vein, the Rome Statute reinforces this definition, establishing international mechanisms for criminal accountability. Given the complexity of genocide when perpetrated by state structures, international tribunals—both ad hoc and the International Criminal Court—have admitted contextual inferences as a legitimate means of demonstrating genocidal intent. This interpretative approach is applied to the Yanomami case, whose historical contact with the Brazilian State has been marked by policies that disregard their autonomy and rights, culminating in the Haximu Massacre (1993), recognized as genocide by the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court. The study analyzes the continuity of these violations, with emphasis on their intensification during the Bolsonaro administration (2019–2022), when state omission and the expansion of illegal mining led to a severe humanitarian and public health crisis. It is argued that such actions are not merely administrative failures but reflect a deliberate policy of exclusion. The paper also examines the responses of the Supreme Federal Court and the Inter- American Human Rights System to the widespread violations against Indigenous peoples, whose rulings have been systematically disregarded, evidencing a pattern of conduct contrary to the constitutional and conventional rights of those living in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory (TIY). Accordingly, the study concludes that individual criminal responsibility and international state accountability must be understood as complementary and inseparable dimensions of the legal response to genocide.