Facing the virus in court: structural litigation through the lens of ADPF 709

Abstract

The text is the result of cooperative research within the context of the research groups Fundamentos do Processo Civil Contemporâneo – FPCC (Foundations of Contemporary Civil Process) and Observatório do Processo (Process Observatory). It analyzes the judicial activity carried out in a structural process that targets the structural problem arising from the continuous and permanent situation of non-compliance involving Brazilian Indigenous people as a group of highly vulnerable individuals in the disaster of COVID-19 in relation to the constitutional and legal protection. In addition to the literature review, exploratory research is developed using qualitative analysis methods, based on a case study, namely, the Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental – ADPF 709 (Plea for Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Constitutional Provision – ADPF 709), whose goal is to compel the Public Power to adopt specific measures to protect the highly vulnerable Indigenous groups, initially in the pandemic scenario caused by the spread of the virus and subsequently, once the pandemic is over, in the context of the continuation of intrusion and invasions on Indigenous lands, generating impacts on health, environment, economy, way of life, and human dignity of that population especially protected by law. The focus is on the innovative procedural techniques of the case capable of providing effective protection.