In October and November 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued two judgments condemning Brazil in cases relating to Business and Human Rights (BHR) themes: the Santos Nascimento and Ferreira Gomes v. Brazil and the Da Silva and others v. Brazil. However, only in the Santos Nascimento and Ferreira Gomes case did the IACtHR develop a legal argument embedded in the BHR international framework similarly to the previous judgment of the Workers of the Fireworks Factory in Santo Antônio de Jesus and their Families v. Brazil case (2020). The silence in the Da Silva case evidence that the IACtHR loss a unique opportunity to reinforce its BHR perspective as previously asserted in the Santos Nascimento case.

The Santos Nascimento and Ferreira Gomes case deals with the structural racial discrimination that was suffered by Neusa dos Santos Nascimento and Gisele Ana Ferreira Gomes in the recruitment process and labour relations at a medical insurance company in the state of São Paulo. The IACtHR condemns the Brazilian State but is innovative in requiring that Brazil adopts legislative, political and administrative measures to guide corporations to implement actions to prevent acts of discrimination in their personnel recruitment processes. The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) also requested the Brazilian State to adopt legislative measures and public policies to guide corporations in the implementation of human rights due diligence. Therefore, the Santos Nascimento and Ferreira Gomes case evidences an important shift in the IACtHR’s lenses towards BHR through the adoption of judgments directed to the furtherance of corporate responsibility, indirectly shaping corporate’s actions towards human rights through public policies.

Previously, in the Fireworks Factory case, in matters referring to BHR, the IACtHR in condemning the Brazilian State only required it to present a report on the application of its National Guidelines on Business and Human Rights. Both cases are embedded in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) and condemns the structural racism present in Brazil, revealing an important dialogue between the Inter-American System and the United Nations’ framework on BHR in the judgement of crimes of racism.

The Da Silva case concerned the murder of Manoel Luiz da Silva, a member of the Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), by private security agents of a rural farm in the state of Paraíba. The only reference to BHR in the Da Silva judgment is a cross-reference to the IACHR’s recommendation that the Brazilian State recognize and promote the UNGP to guarantee the protection of peasants and investigate crimes committed by private agents in rural areas [para 110, f. 114]. In contrast, both Santos Nascimento and Ferreira Gomes case and Fireworks Factory case refer to human rights violations in regard to industrial or urban contexts.

Even though the Fireworks Factory in Santo Antônio de Jesus was located in a rural area, it was a case of clandestine industrial production. On the contrary, the Da Silva case refers to human rights violations against rural workers and concerns a private security corporation. Neither the UNGP nor the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights were mobilized in the legal analysis promoted in the IACtHR’s judgement in the Da Silva case.

Even though the judgment of the Santos Nascimento and Ferreira Gomes case evidences an important development of the IACtHR’s approach towards BHR, the Da Silva case’s minor focus on the theme brings up a question over the extent of the IACtHR’s interpretation of BHR’s frameworks in its own case law. The Da Silva case could have been an opportunity to the IACtHR develop its own interpretation over human rights violations committed by private security corporations and, especially, concerning the BHR agenda over land rights and rural conflicts in the Americas.

The centrality of the IACtHR’s BHR lenses over urban and industrial contexts represents a methodological limitation that must be disrupted by the urgent requirement of rights requested by peasants and rural workers in Brazil. The UNGP should be in dialogue with the international human rights treaties in this cause. On the other side, the Santos Nascimento and Ferreira Gomes case is an important opportunity in the strengthening of Brazilian legislative measures in the promotion of corporate human rights due diligence as a framework to businesses fight against racism.