"A Brazilian indigenous man of the Rikbaktsa tribe watches the bow and arrow competition during the XII International Games of Indigenous Peoples in Cuiaba, Mato Grosso state, Brazil" (Borecki et al. 2016).
Indigenous People of Brazil
What do human rights look like for Indigenous Peoples?
Indigenous peoples have faced challenges over the right to their lands since European conquistadors came oversees and left their footprint on South America. Today, Indigenous people in Brazil continue to face this challenge as capitalism and industrialization become strongly anchored in all aspects of their life.
The Indigenous Population
Often a forgotten population, there are around 900,000 indigenous persons scattered throughout different areas in Brazil. There are about 305 tribes in Brazil, which makes then a significant part of the Brazil population. Within these tribes, they have lands reserved to them that has been recognized by the Brazilian government. This includes the government recognizing 690 territories, where nearly all of the territories are reserved land in the Amazon.2. Despite about half of the Brazilian indigenous peoples living outside the Amazon, only 1.5 % occupy the total land reserved for the indigenous population in the country (Survival International)
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Several hundreds of years have passed since their first contact with outsiders. Despite of this, Indigenous peoples have maintained their language and custom This includes tribes like Guarani, Yanomami, and Tikuna. These are just a few tribes, some tribes like the Akuntsu tribe consist of just four members. This includes tribes that are known to be “uncontacted”. Brazil is known for having more uncontacted people than anywhere on the planet, including 100 groups that live in the amazon
Indigenous Human Rights
On October 5, 1988 Brazil wrote a new Constitutions in order to include an emphasis on the guarantee of indigenous peoples rights (4). Article 231 of the Constitution recognized the cultural and territorial rights of indigenous peoples It reiterated and established their right to permanently live on their traditional territories. Within these territories, indigenous people have the exclusive rights to the natural resources of their land. Exploration and extraction of mineral wealth must be carried out solely with authorization from the National Congress and after listening to the communities involved. This involves the active participation in the benefits of mining activities. An important clause that was included was that the eviction of displacement of indigenous people form their lands in prohibited.
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There has been long standing history in efforts to protect human rights for indigenous peoples. Brazil has voted in favor the UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous peoples in 2007, the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2016, and signed the Indigenous and Tribal People Convention Convention in 1989.
Human Rights Violations
There have been several plans to develop and industrialize the Amazon. In 2016 several hydro-electric dams like the Belo Monte Dam, were build in land belonging to numerous tribal people groups and several vulnerable and uncontacted indigenous people. In 2018, the government announced an era of building hydroelectric dams in the Amazon Basin was ending despite all the damaging having already been inflicted on these vulnerable areas.
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The Election of Jair Bolsanaro on January 2019 brought several detrimental changes to the livelihood on many tribes in the Amazon. His policies align with promoting the lives of rural Brazilians and the evangelist party. Part of the agenda is to work alongside the Frente Parlamentar da Agropecuária, which is responsible for the agriculture and livestock products. Bolsonaro plans to open up lands and resources previously protected to exploitation and belonging to indigenous communities (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs)
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The President has deactivated the functionality of the FUNAI- or the National Foundation for Indians. This federal body is directly linked for setting the borders and limits on the use of indigenous lands. Bolsonaro gave this responsibility to the Ministry of Agriculture, which is known to defend interests of business rather than protect indigenous lands. The Ministry of Agriculture largely pushes for the use of Pesticides, and despite claims that these pesticides are low toxicity, of 450 agrochemicals registered only 52 are of low toxicity. This clearly shows the lack of compassion and awareness of local officials
How is the land where indigenous people live being directly effected by governmental policies? The Minister of Environment, Ricardo Salles, is supporting measures that oppose international agreement that Brazil signed regarding Global Warming. He believes that climate change is nothing more than an ideology. This ideology is harmful because two-thirds of deforestation occurs in indigenous areas. The Climate Agreement of which Brazil was originally a primary supporter is now questioned by official to justify further development in indigenous lands. The President goals seem to be geared towards being the worlds largest exporters of grain, in order to feed the agricultural industry (IWGA)
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The First Hand Experiences of Indigenous People in Brazil
This video shows hand on experiences of different tribes members who are being impacted by the on-going land destruction and deforestation of indigenous peoples due to governmental policy. The impact of the presidential election has had a real impact of environmental policy that once protected indigenous peoples.
How to Help
Donate to International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs- a global human rights organization dedicated to promoting protecting and defending indigenous peoples
rights. https://www.iwgia.org/en/get-involved
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Donate and get involved at Amazon Watch, a nonprofit organization founded in 1966 to protect the rain forest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. They partner with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability , and preservation for the Amazons ecological systems https://amazonwatch.org/
