16/Aug/2021
photo: Juliana Pesqueira / Proteja Amazônia
ACCESS THE DOCUMENT HERE
BRASÍLIA, August 16, 2021 – The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) launches today (16) its International Complaints Dossier. The document brings together a series of data and information that demonstrate that Bolsonaro selected indigenous peoples as enemies of his government, and turned his hate speeches into state policy. The document also relates Bolsonaro’s actions and omissions with the increase in cases of violence and conflict in indigenous territories.
The initiative is part of Apib’s strategy to expand international knowledge about the emergency situation experienced by Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. Last week, the Articulation filed a complaint in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, calling for the investigation of Bolsonaro for crimes of genocide and ecocide. Now, the dossier presents a perspective of broad analysis, to expose to the world the anti-indigenist agenda that is advancing in Brazil.
As an excerpt from the Dossier, the agenda of violence against peoples is “orchestrated with the direct participation of the Executive Branch, fastly advances in the National Congress and rounds up decisions that pass through the hands of the ministers of the Brazilian Supreme Court, the Federal Supreme Court (STF), and also by other instances of the Judiciary.”
The document will be released at an online event, which starts at 12:00 pm (Brasilia time), with the participation of Sônia Guajajara and Dinamam Tuxá, from APIB’s executive coordination, Eloy Terena, coordinator of the institution’s legal department. Ana Patté, from the Xokleng people of Santa Catarina, also participates in the event to report the trajectory of conflicts in the Ibirama-Laklãnõ Indigenous Land, whose case will be analyzed by the Supreme Court on August 25 and has a “general repercussion” character, which makes this an impactful decision for the future of Indigenous Lands demarcation in Brazil.
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09/Aug/2021
Photo: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
For the first time in history, Indigenous Peoples address directly the court in The Hague, with their own lawyers, to stand up for their rights.
Brasília, August 9, 2021 – The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples from Brazil (Apib) filed, this Monday (9), a statement before the International Criminal Court (ICC) to denounce Bolsonaro’s government on Genocide. On the date that marks the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, the organization requests the Court’s prosecutor to examine the crimes perpetrated against indigenous peoples by President Jair Bolsonaro since the beginning of his term, in January 2019, with special attention over the period of Covid-19 pandemic.
Based on ICC’s precedents, Apib demands an investigation for crimes against humanity (article 7. b, h. k Rome Statute – extermination, persecution and other inhuman acts) and genocide (art. 6. B and c of the Statute of Rome – causing severe physical and mental damage and deliberately inflicting conditions aimed at the destruction of indigenous peoples). For the first time in history, indigenous peoples stand before the ICC, with the support of indigenous lawyers, to defend themselves against these crimes.
The statement is composed by several complaints from indigenous leaders and organizations, official documents, academic research and technical notes, arriving to prove the planning and execution of an explicit, systematic and intentional anti-indigenous policy headed by Bolsonaro.
“We believe there are acts in progress in Brazil that constitute crimes against humanity, genocide and ecocide. Given the inability of the justice system in Brazil to investigate, prosecute and judge these conducts, we denounce them to the international community, throughout the International Criminal Court”, highlights Eloy Terena, legal coordinator of Apib.
According to an excerpt of the communication, “the dismantling of public structures for social and environmental protection, and also of those addressed to protecting Indigenous Peoples resulted in the escalation of invasions in Indigenous Lands, deforestation and fires in Brazilian biomes, and also increased illegal mining in the territories.”
For APIB, attacks against Indigenous Peoples and their territories were encouraged by Bolsonaro several occasions along his term. The facts that evidence the Federal Government’s anti-indigenous project range from the explicit refusal to demarcate new lands, including bills, decrees and ordinances that try to legalize invasive activities, stimulating conflicts.
“Apib will continue to stand up for the right of Indigenous Peoples to exist in their diversity. We are native peoples and we will not surrender to extermination”, emphasizes Eloy, one of the eight indigenous lawyers who signed the statement.
The complaint statement sent to the ICC, was supported by the Collective of Advocacy on Human Rights – CADHu and the Comissão Arns, which filed, in 2019, another statement to the ICC Prosecutor’s Office against Bolsonaro, currently under review in the court.
Indigenous August
“We have been fighting every day for hundreds of years to ensure our existence and today our fight for rights is global. The solutions for this sick world come from indigenous peoples and we will never remain silent in the face of the violence we are suffering. We sent this communiqué to the International Criminal Court because we cannot fail to denounce Bolsonaro’s anti-indigenous policy. He needs to pay for all the violence and destruction he is leading”, says Apib’s executive coordinator, Sonia Guajajara.
According to the coordinator, the month of August will be marked by mobilizations from indigenous peoples fighting for their rights. She highlights the ‘Struggle for Life’ camp, scheduled to take place between August 22nd and 28th, in Brasília. “We will occupy the federal capital once again to prevent setbacks against the rights of our peoples”, reinforces Sonia.
“We alert the International Criminal Court to the authoritarian escalation underway in
Brazil. The democratic environment is under risk”, says Dinamam Tuxá, executive coordinator for Apib, recalling the bills that are under Brazilian National Congress analyse and represent serious threats for indigenous rights, and also the judgment by the Supreme Court (STF) on the Temporal Mark, that can define the future of indigenous peoples.
“We are calling to action in Brasília, in the midst of a pandemic, because today the Federal Government’s anti-indigenous agenda represents a more lethal threat than the Covid-19 virus. The lives of Indigenous Peoples are linked to their territories and our lives are under threat. We will be mobilized in the communities, in the cities, in Brasília and in the court in The Hague to hold Bolsonaro accountable and fight for our rights”, highlights Tuxá.
“Indigenous Peoples will remain vigilant, as they have historically done. It is the duty of the Brazilian federal government to respect them, as a foundational expression of a Constitutional State of Law”, points out an excerpt of the document sent to the ICC.
HIGHLIGHTS
- On November 19, 2019, the Collective of Advocacy on Human Rights – CADHu and the Arns Commission presented a statement for inciting genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Jair Bolsonaro against indigenous peoples.
- During the second half of 2020, Apib and the Clinic of Strategic Litigation in Human Rights of Fundação Getúlio Vargas, São Paulo, held workshops with indigenous lawyers, leaders, students, experts and Apib partners on the jurisdiction of the ICC.
- Soon after, the APIB launched a call for leaders and grassroots organizations to send complaints of rights violations, especially in the context of the pandemic. Such reports were largely incorporated in the statement to the ICC.
- The meetings addressed issues such as international criminal jurisdiction and its criticisms, crimes under the Rome Statute, the process before the ICC, the role of victims in the construction of cases, admissibility and the agenda of the Prosecutor’s Office.
- On December 2020, the ICC Attorney’s Office informed the Collective of Advocacy on Human Rights – CADHu and the Arns Commission that the communication sent in November 2019 was under formal evaluation.
- During the first half of 2021, based on the workshops held in 2020, APIB began collecting testimonies and relevant data on the impact of Jair Bolsonaro’s actions on different indigenous communities in the country.
- The reports issued directly by the affected indigenous peoples, official documents, academic research and technical notes integrate the evidence to support the statement presented by Apib today, August 9th, before the ICC, in association with the Collective of Advocacy on Human Rights – CADHu and Comissão Arns.
- The document has 86 pages describing concrete facts, which are organized into:
- A chronology of Bolsonaro’s attacks against indigenous peoples, what includes the destruction of public infrastructure to guarantee indigenous and socio-environmental rights, through administrative acts, normatives, speeches, meetings and projects, directly or indirectly carried out by President Jair, were compiled Bolsonaro;
- The description of the main consequences of the destruction of public infrastructure to guarantee indigenous and socio-environmental rights: the invasion and dispossession of indigenous lands; the deforestation; mining into the territories and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on indigenous peoples, bringing research, reports and data.
- The report on the impact of invasions, deforestation, mining into Indigenous Lands and the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic over isolated indigenous peoples or those with recent contact and over the Munduruku peoples, the indigenous peoples who live in the Yanomami TI, the Guarani-Mbya, Kaingang, the Guarani-Kaiowá, the Tikuna, Kokama, the Guajajara and the Terena.
- APIB brings to the international criminal jurisdiction the voice and interpretation of indigenous peoples on the crimes of which they have been victims, a fact that is historical by itself.
04/Aug/2021
Early last night (August 3rd), Brazilian congressmen showed the interests they stand for, approving the Bill 2633 known as “PL da Grilagem” (Land Grabbing Bill) with a large majority (296 x 136 votes). The approved text was not previously presented to civil society, a typical behavior of anti-democratic regimes.
They argue that the bill is a necessary instrument to register land for small farmers. However, Brazil already has a land reform framework and land allocation policies that only need to be effectively implemented. The approved text, which is now following for the appreciation by the Federal Senate, legalizes the illegal: it regularizes criminally appropriated lands, in processes that often include violent acts against indigenous peoples and traditional communities.
Grilagem means land grabbing. For those unfamiliar with the expression, it is the name given to the invasion, occupation and illegal trade of public areas. This crime has now been converted into law. The practice is directly linked to deforestation, to the destruction of biodiversity and threatens indigenous peoples who traditionally occupy territories, now usurped by land grabbers.
According to the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Ipam), around 30% of deforestation and burning in the Amazon occurred on public lands without designation, which were possibly targeted by land grabbers. Still, studies by Imazon estimate that if PL 2633 effectively becomes a law, it will cause an additional deforestation of up to 16 thousand square kilometers, an area almost 3 times the size of the Brazilian Federal District.
Theft of public land is nothing new in Brazil. What is unprecedented is that the State, which should look after the common good, shamelessly decides to reward thieves and usurpers with the regularization of stolen lands. This ethical and legal aberration puts our forests, our biodiversity and the peoples who depend on them – especially indigenous peoples, traditional communities and family farmers – on their knees in the face of the typical violence processes of invasion and illegal appropriation of land.
While the whole world discusses ways to keep forests standing as a solution to climate change, the Brazilian government continues to “passar a boiada” (pass the cattle), opening the way for an increase in deforestation rates, which goes against its own commitments to zero illegal deforestation.
Indigenous peoples express their consternation over this absurd and irresponsible sign emanating from the self-proclaimed “People’s House”. By approving this project, the Chamber demonstrates that it is gradually and unavoidably becoming the home of ruralists, agribusiness, deforesters, land grabbers – all of them, except for the people.
The Brazilian indigenous movement continues in the struggle for its constitutional rights.
19/Jul/2021
For the last 521 years this land has been characterized by violations, racism and genocide. Centuries of attempts to subjugating peoples, cultures and territories. Today there are not only guns tearing at bodies, but also pens signing extermination laws. When not only criminals are directly attacking, governments skip away from their duty of protecting our peoples. And as much as the fights overlap, we won’t allow it!
We are the first ones in this land, before even Brazil becomes Brazil.
Against bills that violate the Constitution itself, we will continue to be mobilized in the federal capital, sounding our maracas and singing our songs, between the 22nd and 28th of August.
We make this call, even during the pandemic, because we cannot remain silent facing genocide and echocide, because the Earth screams even when we are quiet. May the country listen to its native peoples. Our lives are linked to the earth, as we live in communion with it. We are the guardians of the forests and all forms of life that there inhabit. Facing a Congress that advances in an anti-indigenous agenda and against the Temporal Framework, scheduled to be voted by the Supreme Court on August 25th, we will resist!
We will lead vaccinated to Brasília, with all the hygiene precautions against Covid-19, to play our maracas to guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples.
Come together, relatives, to STRUGGLE FOR LIFE Camp.
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16/Jul/2021
The framework for the protection of traditional peoples has been disregarded by the country. Late submission of government responses to inquiries from the international organization and organizations prevents the manifestation of the Committee of Experts
Brazil has systematically violated Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), as social organizations denounced in a recent report. The report presented before ILO by the National Coordination of Rural Black Quilombola Communities (Conaq), and by the Coordination of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib), with the support from the Land of Rights and Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), list a set of actions perpetrated by the Brazilian State that violate the main international legal instrument on the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, quilombolas and other traditional peoples and communities.
The report emphasizes that the State’s failure to protect indigenous peoples, quilombolas and other traditional peoples in the face of Covid-19 particularly violates the rights of these traditional peoples, exposing them to a context of even worse vulnerability under the pandemic and its effects.
Similar complaints are part of actions filed by Apib and Conaq, in association with other institutions, before the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF). In judgments of both actions, the Ministers recognized the government’s omission and determined that the Brazilian State had to develop and implement urgent plans to fight the pandemic addressed to indigenous peoples and the quilombola population, as well as the inclusion of these groups as priorities for vaccination in the National Immunization Program. Several months after the decisions by the STF, Conaq, Apib and other organizations have repeatedly denounced the weaknesses in the implementation of these measures.
Fundamental in guaranteeing the rights of traditional peoples, quilombolas and indigenous peoples in Brazil, Convention 169 has guided parameters for several Brazilian norms and public policies since the ratification of the norm by the country, in 2002. Even after more than 15 years of validity in national territory, before the pandemic, Brazil was already violating the Convention, point out the organizations. The urgency of the denunciation at this moment, however, underline the organizations, is that the violations have been intensified in the last three years and the rights already assured have suffered significant retractions, especially during the Bolsonaro government.
As the legal advisor of Terra Direitos, Maira Moreira, highlights, “one of the most fundamental instruments for asserting the rights of indigenous peoples, quilombolas and other traditional peoples and communities is being successively and repeatedly violated by the Brazilian State, producing a situation of genocide of these peoples and communities, a slow and gradual genocide, in which all their material, cultural and social conditions are undermined, putting the existence of these peoples and communities under risk”. Since “[the Convention] was already being violated, but in the context of the pandemic, this violation was aggravated”, reiterates Apib’s lawyer, Eloy Terena.
No centimeter
The period of the recorded violations against the 169 Convention by the Brazilian State coincides with Jair Bolsonaro’s term as president. . Openly opposed to the rights of traditional peoples and communities, the president has already stated that in his government “there will not be a centimeter demarcated for an indigenous or for a quilombola land”.
It is not only the presidential declarations that go shoulder to shoulder with the denial and violation of the rights of these populations, but also the dismantling of the indigenous and quilombola policies established by the national government.
In the list of attacks against traditional territories, they are still the incursions by land grabbers, miners and ruralists. In 2020, among the 81,225 families who were victims of invasions in their territories, 58,327 were indigenous, according to a survey released by the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT). “The territories were completely at the mercy of these invaders. Their presence alone is a violation of the exclusive use of indigenous peoples over their territories, but in this pandemic, illegal incursions become a vector for the spread of the disease”, emphasizes Eloy.
The document sent by the organizations to the ILO also highlights the violation of the right to self-determination by the people, attacks on policies for these people, such as the extinction of the Secretariat for Continuing Education, Literacy, Diversity and Inclusion (Secadi), among other violations.
Legislative threats
The most expressive caucus in Congress, congressmen linked to the Parliamentary Front for Agriculture – a lobby supported by agribusiness associations and companies – account for 32 of the 81 seats in the Senate. In the Chamber, the 225 deputies affiliated to the front will represent 44% of the total votes (513) of the entire legislative house.
With this majority representation and no correspondence with the composition of the Brazilian population, the ruralists impose an agenda that enables the market to enter the territories. A singular example is PL 490/2007. The bill threatens the demarcation of indigenous lands, opens the doors of these territories to agricultural projects, hydroelectric plants, mining, roads and mining. In a scenario of intense police violence against indigenous people around the Chamber of Deputies and lack of dialogue with those who will be impacted by the measure, the PL was approved by the Chamber’s Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) on June 23rd.
The Draft Legislative Decree (PDL) No. 177/2021, on the other hand, seeks to directly violate Convention 169. Authored by federal deputy and member of the FPA, Alceu Moreira (MDB-RS), the bill filed in April this year aims to authorize the president to denounce ILO Convention 169, that is, if approved, the Legislative Decree would allow Bolsonaro to withdraw Brazil from the Convention, a procedure called “denouncement”, representing a huge setback to conquered rights. The legislative matter has already been distributed to the House commissions.
16/Jul/2021
The appeal was made in the same week Brazil was mentioned due risk of atrocity against indigenous peoples; Brazilian government tried to present a counter-argument, denied by the UN organism
By Adi Spezia and Tiago Miotto, Cimi’s Communication Department
In a joint statement during the 14th Session of the UN Mechanism of Experts on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), the Articulation of Indigenous People from Brazil (Apib) and the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) denounced this Wednesday (14) measures adopted by the Brazilian government and by the National Congress that attack the rights of indigenous peoples in Brazil, such as 490 Bill, which in practice makes unfeasible new demarcations of indigenous lands, and the thesis of the temporal framework.
The meeting, which aims to listen to indigenous peoples and their organizations, was held virtually in this edition, due to the pandemic. It had as its central issue the self-determination of peoples and the rights of indigenous children. The EMRIP is a unique mechanism whose members are exclusively indigenous peoples. “It is a very important mechanism for the world’s indigenous community, led by indigenous peoples,” explains Paulo Lugon Arantes, Cimi’s international advisor.
Arantes, speaking on behalf of both organizations, highlighted the seriousness of the temporal frame and of the more than 30 other bills pending in the Brazilian Congress that violate the right of free determination from native peoples. The 490 Bill, recently approved by the Commission for the Constitution and Justice (CCJ) from the Chamber of Deputies, was highlighted as one of the main threats to indigenous rights today.
“The time frame is disastrous because it will leave an incalculable mark of exclusion and marginalization over peoples who have not yet had their territories demarcated or who have been expelled from their traditional territories”, said Paulo.
The organizations also denounced the Brazilian government’s anti-indigenous agenda, which led the UN Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide, Wairimu Nderitu, to express an unprecedented concern with the situation of indigenous peoples in Brazil.
“President Bolsonaro has a clearly anti-indigenous agenda, which led the UN advisor for the prevention of genocide to include Brazil in the World Atrocity Map”, said the advisor, on behalf of Apib and Cimi.
Reply denied
After the joint statement, the representative from Brazilian government asked for “the right to reply”, due to the fact that the country was mentioned. The response was denied by the EMRIP secretariat, who replied that Governments have no right to respond before the mechanism. “The members of the EMRIP are the only members of the mechanism and all others are observers,” explained the secretary.
26/May/2021
The Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (@apiboficial) and the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations in the Brazilian Amazon (@coiabamazonia) denounce a serious offensive underway this Wednesday (26th) against Indigenous leaders of the Munduruku Indigenous Territory. Illegal gold miners operating in the region are attacking with gunshots and burning houses in retaliation for a Federal Police operation in the region.
The presence of the National Forces in the region since Monday (24) does not inhibit the miners, who continue to commit acts of violence to threaten and intimidate leaders who are against illegal mining in indigenous territories Armed men, who displayed gallons of gas, invaded an indigenous village of the Munduruku people and set fire on Maria Leusa Munduruku house, coordinator of the Wakoborum Munduruku Women’s Association – the organization that has been attacked by miners on March.
There are suspicions that the attack was organized after the leak, on Tuesday (25), of a document by the Federal Police Crime Repression Service against Indigenous Communities for land grabbers who act in seven national forests and Indigenous territories in the Pará state.
Once again, Indigenous lives are threatened by mining and illegal miners in the Amazon. The terror routine is also repeated at Yanomami Territory, in Roraima, under intense attack since the beginning of May. Brazilian congresswoman Joenia Wapichana denounced the situation at the Munduruku Territory during a session of the Federal Chamber’s Human Rights and Minorities Commission.
24/Sep/2020
By blaming Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities again for the Amazon fire, Jair Bolsonaro consolidates lying as a political move during the General Assembly of the UN. Also, on Tuesday (22nd September) APIB filed a complaint with the Federal Supreme Court (STF) requesting the government to explain in court the lies it spreads and informed the UN about the attacks on Indigenous Peoples.
In his speech as Head of State at the 75th edition of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Jair Bolsonaro distorts reality to sell the image of a Brazil that does not exist. Thus, relieving his administration of any responsibility for actions to combat the pandemic and protect the environment. Bolsonaro’s main tool is lying.
Bolsonaro’s allegations aim to give credit to his administration for actions that were not theirs. For example, the initial amount proposed by the federal government for Auxílio Emergencial (Emergency Aid), one of the main economic policies created during the pandemic, was only R$200.00. But social mobilization with the National Congress ensured an increase to R$ 600.00. The Emergency Aid was also extended to a total of 9 installments (5 installments of R$600 and 4 t of R$300), which altogether amounts R$4,200, equivalent to about US$771,49. Thus, in his speech, Bolsonaro lied both about the government’s position in approving the Emergency Aid and the amount – which he claimed was about US$1,000 dollars.
In regard to the environment, since the beginning of his administration Bolsonaro has made 127 false or distorted announcements (data from the fact checking agency Aos Fatos). And, once more, the president chose to lie and attack.
He lied when he related the Amazon’s and the Pantanal’s fires to the fact that our forests are humid and blamed Indigenous Peoples for the fire outbreaks, shifting responsibility for criminal deforestation caused by landowners. Data from NASA monitoring system shows that 54% of Amazon’s fire outbreaks are related to deforestation. In Pantanal, the Brazilian Federal Police is investigating farms that were criminally burned in order to open pastures for livestock.
Misinformation as a strategy
Bolsonaro also claims that his administration is suffering disinformation campaigns.
It is increasingly evident that the president’s criterion for defining disinformation is based on what is convenient for his government. Criticism, data, formal questioning are part of the democratic rule of law. However, Bolsonaro’s administration has used official structures to promote and encourage attacks on any people, organization or media outlets that point out flaws or demand responsibility from his government.
For example, last Friday (18th September), General Augusto Heleno, State Minister Head of the Institutional Security Office, published declarations on social media criminalizing the Coalition of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) and its leadership, and directly attacking Sonia Guajajara, APIB’s executive-coordinator, whose trajectory in defense of Indigenous and socio-environmental rights is internationally recognized. The Minister alleged that APIB has committed a crime against the State for denouncing the flagrant environmental crimes for which President Jair Bolsonaro must be held responsible.
Fearing for the safety of our leaderships, APIB filed today (22nd September) a complaint with the Federal Supreme Court (STF) requesting Minister Heleno to explain in court the lies and attacks he made to APIB and Sonia Guajajara.
“The Government and its representatives cannot place targets on the backs of leaders, activists or people who cause them inconvenience due to their political position, under penalty of, then, committing crimes that must be punished ”, emphasizes one of the excerpts from document that can be accessed in full here.
Today (22nd September) we have also sent a statement to the UN about Bolsonaro’s government attack on APIB, highlighting that Minister Heleno and Bolsonaro’s administration have made several intimidating accusations against our actions in defense of Indigenous Peoples
and that this is an indecorous attempt at criminalization, a completely inadequate posture for a Minister of State that underlines its anti-democratic character when it pursues those who fight for the environmental protection of ecosystems and the Indigenous peoples of Brazil.
The attack by Minister General Heleno, in addition to showing total ignorance about the history and construction of the APIB, confirms the use of disinformation as a political strategy by the Bolsonaro government, since it directs frivolous accusations on social media that encourage, above all, the criminalization of organized Indigenous movements. “The biggest crime that harms our country is the government’s failure to destroy our biomes, protected areas, illegal fires, land grabbing, deforestation and invasion of our lands and the theft of our wealth”, highlights an excerpt from APIB’s note published in response to the minister’s lying accusations.
It is important to note that, while the government abuses its power and uses smear campaigns to pursue an organization that acts to reduce the impact of Covid-19 on native peoples, more than 800 Indigenous persons have died so far, and about 32 thousand have been infected by the new coronavirus, according to data from the National Committee for Life and Indigenous Memory of APIB.
The Federal Government had to be judicially forced by the STF to present a specific combat plan to be applied in context of Indigenous peoples, contradicting Bolsonaro’s claim at the UN that he provided due assistance to them. On the other hand, when Congress Members presented a bill that provided an emergency plan to contain the damage of the pandemic, Bolsonaro vetoed parts of the bill such as the guarantee of access to drinking water, ease of access to emergency aid, among other fundamental rights.
18/Sep/2020
While the Brazilian Federal Government is passively watching the devastation of our biomes by criminal fires, the Head of the Institutional Security Office, General Heleno, has published a serious accusation on his social networks. The General claims that the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) and the indigenous leadership, Sonia Guajajara, committed a crime against the country.
APIB rejects the declaration. We understand that the biggest crime against our country is the omission displayed by this government in face of the destruction of our biomes, of our protected areas, of the illegal fires and land grabbing, of the deforestation and of the invasion of our lands and the theft of our wealth.
On the eve of the United Nations General Assembly, the whole world is witnessing these crimes, which are too big to be concealed. Instead of attacking individuals who work to protect the environment and guarantee the rights of Brazilian indigenous peoples, the authorities should use this moment to fulfill their constitutional oaths and present the nation with a plan to fight the fires that afflict the country and, in doing so, protect the economy and Brazil’s international reputation.
The accusations, in addition to being frivolous and false, are irresponsible, as they endanger the personal security of those mentioned.
APIB is evaluating appropriate response measures.
01/Feb/2020
APIB – Coalition of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) , along with several indigenous, indigenists and human rights organizations of Brazil, vehemently rejects the notification that the Chairmanship of Funai (National Indinegous Foundation) intends to designate an evangelical pastor connected to proselytizing activities of the New Tribes Mission of Brasil (MNTB), a North American missionary organization, to take Funai’s General Coordination for Isolated and Recent Contact peoples. The harmful effects of proselytizing activities on isolated indigenous peoples in Brazilian territory are known throughout history. There are countless occasions in which the coercive contact by missionary groups, including those connected to MNTB, resulted in a high number of deaths from illnesses, socio-cultural disruption and deterritorialization.
FUNAI, headed by a Federal Police chief appointed by members of the Ruralist lobby, is once more undermining the indigenous peoples rights, as well as dismantling the federal indigenous agency and the policy of non-contact with isolated indigenous peoples that began in 1987, and has international recognition. Instead of searching for competent technical staff within the Foundation, those with experience on working with isolated peoples, with technical capacity and aligned with the constitutional principals of honouring the autonomy of indigenous peoples, FUNAI yields to evangelical and proselytizing interests, undermining the secular policy of respect for indigenous peoples, that goes against what the 1988 Constitution determines.
We denounce, once again, the rapid dismantling of the public policies for indigenous peoples done by the Bolsonaro government, through the indigenous policies subjugation to the interests of religious groups that support their government and, in many cases, to the ruralist group that eagers the lands traditionally occupied by these peoples. It is another situation prone to violate the human rights intentionally triggered by the current government, and that could lead to the physical, sociocultural and spiritual death of isolated and recently contacted indigenous peoples living in Brazil. Indigenous peoples in Brazil and their representative organizations will continue fighting against the anti-indigenous measures of the Bolsonaro government and enduring for the sake of a republican and secular indigenous policy, which abides the indigenous rights, secured by the 1988 Constitution.
