UN condemns Brazil’s “attack” on indigenous
peoples
The UN has condemned
Brazil's onslaught on indigenous rights, which
threatens to wipe out uncontacted tribes
© G.
Miranda/FUNAI/Survival The
United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights have condemned Brazil’s “attack” on its
indigenous peoples.
In
a new
statement, UN and IACHR
experts have warned that Brazilian Indians are at great
risk as politicians continue pushing to weaken their
hard-won land rights.
Brazil’s
constitution states that indigenous territories must be
mapped out and protected for the Indians’ exclusive use.
But anti-indigenous politicians linked to Brazil’s
powerful agribusiness lobby are calling for changes to
the law which could enable them to steal and destroy
these lands for large-scale plantations and
“development” projects. This is the most serious attack
Brazilian Indians have experienced in decades.
Without
their lands, indigenous peoples cannot survive. Tribes
nationwide have united
in protest against this onslaught on their rights.
One indigenous leader, Adalto Guarani, said that the
politicians’ plans “are like an atomic bomb… which could
kill all the Indians in Brazil” and has called
for people around the world to take action.
Brazil
is home to over 250 tribes, including over 100 who are
uncontacted and reject contact with mainstream society.
Uncontacted
tribes are the most vulnerable peoples on the
planet. They face genocide and will be killed by disease
and violence brought by invaders if their land is not
protected, but the teams charged with keeping outsiders
away are paralyzed
by recent budget cuts.
The
statement slams the “illegitimate criminalization” of
indigenous peoples’ allies. The anti-indigenous
agribusiness lobby instigated an inquiry whose recently
published report attacked indigenous leaders,
anthropologists, public prosecutors and NGOs, including
Survival International. The report was met
with outrage and incredulity in Brazil and
beyond.
The
experts also highlighted that over the last 15 years,
Brazil has seen “the highest number of killings of
environmental and land defenders of any country”. Dozens
of indigenous leaders have been assassinated in recent
years, following attempts to reoccupy their ancestral
land, and last month, thirteen Gamela
Indians were hospitalized after a violent attack by
men armed with machetes in the Amazon.
The
UN and the IACHR have
recommended that “Brazil should be strengthening
institutional and legal protection for indigenous
peoples”.
Survival
has launched a campaign
to defend indigenous rights in Brazil.
Read
this online: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11709
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