Council Ribeirinho

Strengthening the Ribeirinho Council and guaranteeing the human rights of families that were removed from their homes on the banks of the Xingu River due to the construction of the Belo Monte dam.

• Organize the Ribeirinho Council.
• Monitor the Xingu River.

In 2015, riverine families living on the islands and shores of the Xingu River were compulsorily removed from their homes to make way for the reservoir of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant in Pará. These families have histories and ways of life deeply linked to their territory, but they were not taken into consideration. At the time of the eviction, an alternative was not offered to allow them to maintain their way of life. Since then, the riverine have been struggling to return to the river’s edge with dignity. In November 2016 the Ribeirinho Council was formed and it is now the sovereign authority conducting the process of organizing the families and setting the criteria and areas for resettlement – previously done unilaterally by Norte Energia, the concessionaire of Belo Monte.

In June 2015, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office published a document systematizing irregularities in the removal of residents, indicating a real risk of a serious violation of human rights. The document recommended that the situation of the riverside residents should be dealt collectively and stated that the way the displacement process was conducted refrained their possibility of keeping their livelihoods and the transmission of traditional knowledge, implying the risk of precluding dignified existence and social reproduction, requiring immediate interference in the process. The creation of the council took place due to the need to act collective having the riverine as the protagonists of this process. Consisting of 28 representatives, the Riverine People’s Council holds meetings and the monitoring of the Xingu River, initiating a social recognition process.