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Brazil district attorneys seek $668 million from Vale, BHP for gender violations in reparations

Brazilian district attorneys are asking for mining business Vale, BHP and their joint endeavor Samarco pay 3.6 billion reais ($ 667.73 million) for apparently dedicating genderbased infractions in the reparations procedure over a 2015 dam burst.

WHY IT is very important

The new lawsuit comes as Vale and BHP hope to reach a. tentative contract by the end of this month with federal and. state authorities to settle reparations over the catastrophe, with. their offer presently standing at 140 billion reais.

The district attorneys claim the companies based reparations paid. so far on a patriarchal family principle, breaking females's. rights, and requested that they also pay each of the affected. women 135,000 reais, according to a document seen .

KEY ESTIMATES

Because its beginning, the registration of victims has. focused on the man as the head of the household-- a method. that, as a rule, positioned the guy as the generator of earnings and. developed that the other members of the family would just be. his dependents, the prosecutors said.

By largely ignoring females, registering them as dependents. or 'assistants' of their partners, the registration procedure made. their work and financial activities invisible.

OPPOSITE

Vale and BHP stated they have actually not yet been notified about the. brand-new lawsuit. Samarco did not right away respond to a demand. for comment.

EXTRA CONTEXT

The November 2015 collapse of a tailings dam at a Samarco. mine in the town of Mariana triggered a wave of hazardous tailings that. killed 19 individuals. It left hundreds homeless, flooded forests and. polluted the whole length of the Doce River.

(source: Reuters)