Fighting For The Property Rights Of Indigenous People In Brasil

 

BRAZIL

Tug-of-War

Thousands of Indigenous people have been camped out on the streets of Brasilia this week, intent on putting pressure on Supreme Court justices who are due to start considering a case that will have far-reaching implications for their land rights, the Associated Press reported.

The 6,000 protesters from 173 ethnic groups are worried about a case that involves a lower court’s ruling that invalidated a claim by some Indigenous people in Santa Catarina state to what they say is their ancestral territory. The lower court based its decision on allegations that the group wasn’t occupying the land in October 1988, when Brazil’s constitution was signed after the nation’s return to democracy. The group denies that.

Protest organizers say the court’s decision could be “the ruling of the century,” because eliminating the 1988 benchmark would force judges across the country to impose that on similar pending cases and would affect a bill being considered in the legislature that would loosen protections for Indigenous lands.

President Jair Bolsonaro said Wednesday that overturning the lower court’s ruling would prompt new requests to officially recognize hundreds of Indigenous territories and create “chaos,” the AP wrote. He has repeatedly argued that Indigenous people control far too much land relative to their population size — their territories cover 14 percent of Brazil, mostly in the Amazon.

Other proponents of the bill, which include farming groups, say the 1988 cutoff date provides legal certainty regarding property law.

But Indigenous groups and their supporters say it ignores the fact many Indigenous people had been forcibly expelled from their lands, particularly during the military dictatorship or may not have formal means to prove their prior presence. And other critics, which include the UN and Human Rights Watch, say the case is really about allowing big businesses to exploit Indigenous lands.

Pi Surui, from the 7 de Setembro village in the Amazon rainforest state of Rondonia, said he had come to the capital to make clear that Indigenous territory is more than just land. “It is sacred, our history, our life,” he told the AP.

Brazil has 421 officially recognized Indigenous territories that are home to 466,000 people.

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