Human rights violations and health impacts: Violence against the peoples of the Cerrado

Abstract

The essay examines how original peoples and traditional communities in the Cerrado have their territorial, social and health rights violated in contexts of environmental conflicts marked by violence. The aim is to analyse the relationship between environmental injustices and impacts on the health of these populations, highlighting the multiple dimensions of violence. The research used as a reference reports published by the ‘Map of Conflicts Involving Environmental Injustice and Health in Brazil’, selecting paradigmatic cases such as those of the Guarani and Kaiowá (MS), Guajajara and Awá-Guajá (MA), the Kalunga Quilombola Territory (GO), the Estrondo Farm (BA) and the Araguaia-Tocantins Waterway (PA/TO). A qualitative content analysis methodology was applied to the documentary corpus. The main conclusions from the conflicts presented indicate that collective, socio-environmental, physical, institutional and symbolic violence act as a strategy to make traditional ways of life unfeasible, driven by the interests of agro- and hydro-business, mining and other sectors. The cases also highlight the precariousness of access to health care, territorial loss and the urgent need for public policies that take into account the specificities of these peoples.