Dear Madam President,

I would like to urge you to reconsider the construction of the Belo Monte Dam until proper consultation of all directly and indirectly affected indigenous peoples has been carried out.

This dam will flood part of the Xingu reserve and dry some parts of it, leading to the forced displacement of hundreds of indigenous peoples living in the reserve, and deprivation of their fundamental rights including their right to food, water health and housing.

It is vital that your Government respects:

- Article 6 of the Brazilian Constitution which states that

- Article 6 of the ILO Convention on Indigenous peoples

- the July 2011 decision of the Inter-american Commission on Human rights on precautionary measure by notably adopting concrete measures to protect the lives, health, and physical integrity of the members of the Xingu Basin indigenous communities in voluntary isolation and to protect the cultural integrity of those communities, as well as to protect those ancestral lands against intrusion and occupation by non-indigenous people and against the exploitation or deterioration of their natural resources.

As the host of the upcoming conference on sustainable development in Rio in June 2012, Brazil should place human rights and indigenous peoples rights in the heart of dicussion of this event. Sustainable development can be reached without the respect, protection and promotion of indigenous peoples rights.

Yours sincerely,