22.05.2009
Dam Affected People fight for land in the State of Paraíba

Around 120 families affected by the Acauã dam are camped for the last 20 days in the Mascadi Farm in the municipality of Itatuba - State of Paraíba. They demand the revision of the compensation scheme and living conditions equal to those they had before, and basically respect for the fact that they are rural communities.

In April 2008, the Special Commission of the Human Rights Defence Council visited the affected communities and verified that the construction of the dam degraded their life conditions by breaking apart their cultural, social and economic networks and pushing them into social exclusion. According to the commission’s report “the so called resettlements are in fact precarious and isolated camps which do not provide perspectives to their inhabitants”.

“We can affirm that there has been a continuous and direct violation of the International Treaty of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which recognizes the right of all people to proper life conditions for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing conditions which can also be improved”, declares the report.

The dam affected people will stay in the camp until the State Government, which is responsible for the project, starts negotiating with the families. José Maranhão, the current State Governor was also governor during the construction of the dam and is held twice accountable for the violations of human rights. “Most of these settlers would have died from hunger had they not been receiving basic food baskets”, according to the report of the Commission.

Before and After the Dam

Before the construction of the dam, communities were living in rural areas completely integrated to the work and living conditions of the countryside. They could fish for subsistence and even in humble conditions, people were living in dignity with residences big enough to house all family members, access to water, adequate food, guaranteed income from small plantations and animal herds, and leisure, places to exercise their religious and social duties, schools, health services, etc., in addition to the ability to negotiate and trade with neighbouring communities.

With the construction of the dam, there was no previous guarantee for the maintenance of the living conditions of the people. They were forced to change their way of living: left their traditional rural life for an urban type environment (without even the basic structures of an urban centre). There is no arable land, neither area for animal farming in the settlement.

The social and economic degradation has increased the levels of alcoholism and violence. Kids have no access to schools or study in precarious conditions. Sewage streams flow around the houses. Many residents of the settlement do not have id documents and none of the settlers have property titles for the houses they received or live. Communities are completely inaccessible or difficult to access and none is linked with regular transport services while there is no ambulance service. Just some of the residents are benefiting from the federal government’s social programs and the municipalities are not using all resources available for their people. Communities do not receive information on these programs and do not know how to benefit from them while many lack the necessary documentation to be able to do so.

With information from the report of the Special Commission of the Human Rights Defence Council