## Facts

- A petition was filed in 1980 on behalf of the Yanomami people (approximately 10,000–12,000 persons) living in the Brazilian Amazon in Amazonas and Roraima.
- Petitioners alleged that state-backed Amazon development policies—especially road construction and mining promotion—triggered large-scale non-indigenous entry into Yanomami areas.
- Road construction through Yanomami territory facilitated migration by miners and settlers and was followed by epidemics and diseases that caused significant deaths among the Yanomami.
- The influx and related disruption were linked to forced displacement from traditional communities and harms to social organization and subsistence practices.
- Discovery of valuable minerals intensified mining activity and conflict; the State authorized concessions and did not effectively control or remove outsiders.
- Brazilian law formally recognized strong protections for indigenous lands and resources, including permanent possession and exclusive usufruct, but these protections were not effectively implemented for the Yanomami.
- The Commission assessed the State’s conduct as including both affirmative development actions and omissions, particularly inadequate territorial protection and insufficient health measures.

## Issues

1. Whether Brazil’s authorization of, or failure to control, road building, colonization, and mining in Yanomami territory—along with inadequate health and social protections—violated rights protected by the American Declaration, including life, personal security, health, movement, and property.
2. Whether the American Declaration requires “special protection” for indigenous peoples’ cultural identity and for the conditions necessary to preserve their way of life.

## Decision

- The Commission found Brazil internationally responsible for failing to adopt timely and effective measures to protect the Yanomami.
- The Commission found violations of:
  - The right to life, liberty, and personal security (American Declaration art. I).
  - The right to preservation of health and well-being (art. XI).
  - Rights to residence and movement and to property, in light of displacement and encroachment on Yanomami lands (arts. VIII and XXIII).
- The Commission stated that international law recognizes indigenous peoples’ right to special protection for language, religion, and elements essential to cultural identity, and concluded Brazil had not met that standard.
- The Commission recommended that Brazil demarcate Yanomami lands, strengthen preventive and remedial health measures, and design and implement relevant programs in consultation with the Yanomami and qualified experts.

## Legal Principles

- State responsibility under the American Declaration may arise from combined state actions (development policies) and omissions (failure to prevent foreseeable harms and protect vulnerable communities).
- The rights to life and health include protective duties where state policies foreseeably expose an indigenous community to epidemics, displacement, and conditions threatening physical survival.
- Indigenous territorial protections entail effective measures to secure land and resource use against third-party intrusions, not merely formal recognition in domestic law.
- Indigenous peoples are entitled to special protection of cultural identity, including safeguards for continued use of language, religion, and subsistence-linked practices.
- Measures affecting indigenous communities should be carried out with consultation and culturally appropriate planning, including reliance on specialized scientific and medical expertise when needed.

## Conclusion

The Commission concluded that Brazil’s development-driven opening of Yanomami territory, coupled with inadequate control of outsiders and insufficient health and territorial protections, violated the Yanomami’s rights to life, health, movement, and property under the American Declaration, and it urged demarcation and protective, consultative measures tailored to indigenous needs.


Comunidad Yanomami (Braz.), Case 7615, Inter-Am. Comm’n H.R., Res. 12/85, Annual Report 1984–1985, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.66, doc. 10, rev. 1, at 24 (1985)