RSF and partners launch online platform in memory of environmental journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira

Launched on 3 July by RSF in partnership with the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Univaja), ARTICLE 19, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPI) and the Dom Phillips Institute, the online platform was designed to be a permanent space to remember, stay informed about and publicly monitor the case of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous affairs specialist Bruno Pereira, who were brutally murdered in 2022 in the Javari Valley in the Brazilian Amazon.

The website will enable users to follow the progress of the legal proceedings against the alleged perpetrators, with the trial expected to advance in the coming months after a series of postponements and procedures to gather evidence and hear witnesses.

In addition to providing a timeline of events and updates on the investigations and legal proceedings related to the case, the website tracks the implementation of the precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for this case.

The new platform also monitors the commitments made by the Brazilian government during the meeting held on 12 June with civil society organisations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Its promises include the creation of a protection plan for the families of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, as well as members of the Indigenous rights non-profit Univaja, specifically adapted to the period of the trial of those accused, and measures to strengthen the transparency of the investigations.

Dom Phillips, an experienced journalist who wrote for The Guardian, The New York Times and The Washington Post, was in the Amazon conducting interviews for a book about the region. He was brutally murdered on 5 June 2022. He was travelling with Bruno Pereira, who had taken leave from FUNAI (Brazil's government agency responsible for protecting the rights and interests of Indigenous peoples) to work with Univaja, a non-profit organisation that defends the interests of Indigenous communities.