The Federal Supreme Court unanimously approved the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) 7345 filed by the Green Party to curb illegal mining in the Amazon and throughout the national territory. The action is based on a precautionary measure against a federal law that reduces the responsibility of Value Distributors by allowing them to purchase gold solely based on information provided by the miners.
According to the Green Party, the Value Distributors are authorized to buy gold solely based on information provided by the miners, exempting them from improving their control and monitoring mechanisms. By relieving Value Distributors from seeking information about what occurs in gold extraction sites in the Amazon, the norm allows all illegal gold from the Amazon to be laundered as if it were legal.
Furthermore, according to the action, illegal mining violates the 1988 Federal Constitution by infringing upon the right to an ecologically balanced environment for present and future generations; the right to health; the right of indigenous peoples to their social organization, customs, languages, beliefs, and traditions, as well as the lands they traditionally occupy; and the economic order, which must observe the defense of the environment and consumers.
As the rapporteur of the case, Justice Gilmar Mendes stated in his decision, “It is necessary to promptly halt this illicit consortium formed between illegal mining and criminal organizations. It is not difficult to see that the simplification of the gold purchasing process has allowed the expansion of illegal trade, strengthening illegal mining activities, deforestation, river contamination, violence in mining regions, and even affecting indigenous peoples in the affected areas.” The rapporteur’s vote was followed by all other justices of the court.
The Direct Action of Unconstitutionality was signed by the national president, José Luiz Penna, the Secretary of Legal Affairs of the Green Party, Vera Motta, and the lawyers Lauro Rodrigues de Moraes Rego Junior and Caio Henrique Camacho Coelho.
