A planned private railway and port project in the Brazilian state of Maranhão poses an acute threat to human rights, the livelihoods and food supply of traditional communities and unique ecosystems in the eastern Amazon region. German and Brazilian organisations are jointly calling on Deutsche Bahn (DB) to carry out a risk analysis before participating in the project.
Despite the expected risk, two subsidiaries of Deutsche Bahn AG publicly expressed their interest in participating in February 2023. The "Research and Documentation Centre Chile-Latin America e.V." (FDCL), "Kooperation Brasilien e.V." (KoBra), Misereor and "Rettet den Regenwald e.V.", together with their Brazilian partner organisation "Justiça nos Trilhos", today officially lodged a complaint with the company at a protest action in front of the Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) headquarters in Berlin.
The planned "Grão-Pará Maranhão" infrastructure project is intended to expand the export of agricultural products such as soya and metals such as iron ore to Germany. According to the plans known to us, the deep-water port "Alcântara Port Terminal" and a 520-kilometre-long freight railway line would also be built on land belonging to traditional communities and in environmental protection areas. Some communities would be cut right through. The "DB E.C.O. Group" and "DB Engineering & Consulting" have signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" with "Grão-Pará Maranhão" for the joint project development and subsequent operation of the railway as a "Shadow Operator", according to their own press release.
In their complaint, the Brazilian and German non-governmental organisations call on Deutsche Bahn AG to carry out a comprehensive human rights and ecological risk analysis with the participation of those affected. This is indispensable as a basis for a possible participation in the project.
"As a local resident whose rights have been violated, I understand and know how serious the realisation of the GPM project would be. It would affect communities that have no idea of the risks they could face," explains Flávia Nascimento, community leader and member of the Piquiá community association in Maranhão. "The Grão Pará project could separate families and invade isolated communities, which could cause great harm. And we don't want that to happen to any of these families."
"To date, the affected communities have not been informed and consulted at all or only incompletely: a clear violation of Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which both Brazil and Germany have ratified," criticises Mikaell Carvalho, coordinator of the Brazilian human rights organisation "Justiça nos Trilhos".
"By ratifying ILO 169, Germany is obliged under international law to respect the participation rights of indigenous and other traditional communities. This includes all state institutions and state-owned companies such as Deutsche Bahn: Germany's human rights obligations do not stop at national borders," says Christian Russau from the Research and Documentation Centre Chile-Latin America e.V. (FDCL) in Berlin.
"Deutsche Bahn must not participate in the project without carefully analysing the risks to human rights and the environment in advance and taking effective preventive measures to rule them out. Otherwise, the company will be in breach of its own declaration of principles as well as the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act," warns Armin Paasch, expert on responsible business and human rights at Misereor.
"GPM is directly threatening extremely sensitive and species-rich ecosystems on land and in the sea. According to our information, the planned harbour and parts of the rail line are located within national and international mangrove and rainforest conservation areas. We are also very concerned about the expansion of mining activities that the project could trigger in the Amazon," explains Klaus Schenck from Rettet den Regenwald e.V. (Save the Rainforest).
Further information:
The letter to Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) can be found at this link.
