The legal team at the Observatory for the Human Rights of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indigenous Peoples (Opi) won the 20th edition of the Innovare 2023 award. Legal advisers Carolina Santana, Patrícia Borba, Kari Guajajara and Catarina Ramos won the Advocacy category with their legal practice "Access to Justice for Indigenous Peoples Living in Isolation".
The result was announced today (12) during a ceremony at the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in Brasilia. The award was presented by Judge Cristiano Zanin. Following the announcement, Opi's legal team opened a shirt with the words "Bruno Presente".
The initiative to set up a legal strategy at Opi came from Bruno Pereira, who was murdered in June 2022 in the Javari Valley/AM together with British journalist Dom Phillips. Since Bruno created the team, the organisation has begun acting on behalf of the rights of indigenous people who are part of an extremely vulnerable minority due to their isolation.
The legal team acts by presenting cases of violation or prevention against violation of rights before the Brazilian judiciary and as petitioners in international courts. Opi and the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) were parts in the ADPF (Claim of Non-Compliance with Fundamental Precept) case 709, which deals with the protection of indigenous territories threatened by the covid-19 pandemic, and ADPF case 991, which resulted in a decision guaranteeing the rights of all isolated groups in the country. Opi's work has brought the judiciary closer to the reality of indigenous peoples living in isolation.
During the ceremony, a video was shown portraying Opi's legal work in one of the indigenous lands where people live in isolation, the Uru Eu Wau Wau Indigenous Land, in Rondônia. In an interview, lawyer Carolina Santana explained: "In law school we learn to speak. With the indigenous peoples, I learnt to listen, which is much more important."
"In our society, there is a stigmatised and sometimes grotesque view of these populations, a view from which the judiciary is not immune. Through our practices, we have helped to mitigate these views, presenting the judiciary with strategies for approaching the issue of individuals who do not wish to be consulted, who cannot be summoned, who do not speak Portuguese, citizens who do not want documents or access to conventional healthcare, among countless other peculiarities. What's more, we've helped legal practitioners address issues of radical otherness, of subjects of law who need protection, but who absolutely reject any contact with people outside their collective," the lawyers say of their work.
The Innovare award has been running for 20 years and honours innovative legal practices in the categories of Court, Judge, Public Prosecutor's Office, Public Defender's Office, Advocacy and Justice and Citizenship. In the 2023 edition, 773 practices were accepted for participation in the award. The practices chosen as finalists were from the following states: São Paulo, Amazonas, Maranhão, Rio Grande do Sul, Pará, Sergipe, Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná and the Federal District.
