The construction of Belo Monte dam, in northern Brazil, is presented as a field of reflections on development issues, emphasizing the need to examine development based on its pluralistic dimensions and on its achievement by democratic means. The analysis of the so-called Major Development Projects, particularly on the sector of power generation, makes it possible to understand how human rights and economic development are related, showing the balance of forces that is established between global and local; goals of economic promotion and claims of socio-juridical protection; developmentalism and development; the development right and the right to development. Within Brazilian legal order, the thematic can be seen from a legal standpoint that considers the consequences of water and mineral resources exploitation into indigenous lands, which results from Brazilian subscription of international treaties or from national constitutional text itself, leading to identify failures in the conduction and implementation of these projects, especially when confronted with human rights platforms.
Development; Human Rights; Major Development Projects; Belo Monte Dam; Right to free, prior and informed consent