27 / 126
27
The business world’s impacts on human rights are
undeniable. Corporations operate in a complex
environment, and violations may result not only
from their direct activities, but also from their
relationships with neighboring communities and
throughout their production and supply chains.
In 2011, the United Nations launched the
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
(UNGPs), which established a new paradigm
for companies’ responsibilities in relation to
protecting human rights. The UNGPs state
that companies need to adopt mechanisms to
prevent, mitigate and repair their activities’ direct
and indirect impacts on human rights. They also
reinforce the state’s duties when human rights
are threatened or violated by private agents.
Fulfilling its role to contribute to national
development in many areas, Fundação Getulio
Vargas, through the Group for Research on
Human Rights and Business (GDHeE), part of
the Sao Paulo Law School (Direito SP), is working
to promote a development model designed to
effectively protect the rights of people and
communities impacted by business activities.
GDHeE has a multidisciplinary team guided
by methodological precision, which uses
participatory and collaborative methods to make
diagnoses, construct scenarios and produce
results from a variety of research.
In 2016, the group coordinated several projects,
including one aimed at producing guidelines
for the resettlement of people who needed to
leave their homes, due to the construction of
“development projects” – the name given by
the United Nations for infrastructure works such
as ports, hydroelectric dams and mines. These
guidelines are designed to orient the actions of
companies, funding banks for large projects, and
environmental agencies, regarding how to plan
and execute the resettlement of people directly
or indirectly impacted by these development
projects. The next step in the project is to build
an app and digital platform to act as consultation
and monitoring mechanisms, able to identify the
impacts suffered by local communities, regional
vulnerabilities, and the priorities for companies
and the state.
The Brazilian government has signed several
international treaties toguaranteedecent housing.
However, to comply with these treaties, the
country needs to take many measures and include
all the players involved in the process. This will
minimize the effects of unplanned movements of
people, which can impoverish the population and
counteract the potential of infrastructure projects
to promote local development. The result is great
legal uncertainty for business and violations of the
rights of local communities.
In this context, GDHeE has been working actively
to improve this situation, clarifying responsibilities
and proposing ways to mitigate violations of rights.
Major progress has already been made with regard
to the resettlement of people (traditional and
indigenous communities), as in the case of the
building of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, in
Altamira, Pará, in the Amazon region, through a
project conducted in partnership with the Brazilian
Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC).
Based on empirical research and quantitative
and qualitative analysis of processes, the group
developed solutions that are being applied to this
case, which have already been incorporated by the
Brazilian environmental protection agency, Ibama.
These solutions are designed to promote the
participation of people living along the Belo Monte
River in their resettlement process, besides guiding
state policies and risk assessments carried out by
companies in order to prevent violations of human
rights in their activities.