Description: | This arpillera, inspired by the question posed in the Chilean arpillera "¿Dónde están?/ Where are they?" prompted 11 women victims of dam construction in various regions of Brazil to question: "Where are our rights?"
Here we see the Brazilian map encased in a dam with the ensuing denial of rights depicted: loss of land; privatization of the river; increase in violence against women, human trafficking and sex work; and the weakening of community infrastructure due to forced displacement.
In 2006, Brazil’s Council for Defence of Human Rights (CDDPH) created a special commission to investigate the treatment of the populations affected by dams through seven study cases. In October 2010, the commission concluded that the current methods of dam construction in Brazil have resulted in “recurring human rights' violations, which ultimately worsen already serious existing social inequalities resulting in increased poverty and disintegration of individuals, families and society”. Conselho de Defesa dos Direitos da Pessoa Humana, Comissão Especial “Atingidos por Barragens”, Resoluções nºs 26/06, 31/06, 01/07, 02/07, 05/07
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