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Home BUSINESSFinnish firms allegedly violating indigenous rights in Brazil
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Sun, 30 Aug, 2015 12:04:05 AM
FTimes - STT Report, Aug 30
 
Veracel company employees at a pulp production plant in Brazil. File Photo – Lehtikuva.
Finnish companies, especially the forest company Stora Enso, operate contrary to the rights of indigenous peoples in Brazil, according to a doctoral dissertation by Susanna Myllylä.
 
She relayed in her dissertation the views of the Pataxo tribe on the activities of Veracel pulp mill, a Brazilian operation co-owned by Stora Enso.
 
It was the second PhD dissertation by ​ Myllylä in Management and Leadership, who earlier completed his PhD on administrative sciences.
 
“The company does not care about the tribe’s rights, for example, to be heard over new investments, the rights of freedom of movement and to engage in industry over large areas, and the right to a safe working environment,” said Myllylä. 
 
Stora Enso's headquarters in Helsinki. File Photo – Lehtikuva.
She also held Pöyry and Metso responsible as partners in the project. 
 
According to her study, Finnish companies take advantage of the fact that the Brazilian government does not act in accordance with its own constitution, the 169 Act of International Labour Organisation, or the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, according to which, indigenous peoples have the right to manage their own land.
 
Stora Enso’s Biomaterials Division Communications Director Kirsi Seppäläinen, however, challenged the results of the doctoral research.
 
“We do not operate on those lands which clearly belong to indigenous peoples. We also cooperate with tribes, but, of course, we can’t please everyone. Also, land ownership in Brazil is often unclear,” Seppäläinen said.
 
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