‘The extermination of native peoples is the death of our future,’ warn entities, which demand urgency measures by the state

Brasil de Fato

In the face of recent cases of violence against Indigenous peoples, human rights organizations have come together to demand urgent actions on the part of the state. “The escalation of violence against Indigenous peoples is extremely worrying,” warns the statement issued by the organizations. 

For more than a month, the Guarani-Kaiowá Indigenous people have been violently targeted by landowners in the Panambi-Lagoa Rica Indigenous Land, in the town of Douradina, Mato Grosso do Sul. In addition to physical attacks, the victims are the target of disinformation aimed at legitimizing the onslaught by people from the agribusiness sector, as revealed in a news story by Brazilian news outlet Agência Pública. In just one week in July, the states of Bahia, Ceará, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul also recorded attacks against Indigenous people.

For the document’s signatories, the legal insecurity to which Indigenous peoples are subjected is responsible for the escalation of attacks. In September 2023, the Supreme Court (STF, in Portuguese) recognized the territorial rights of Indigenous peoples as a permanent clause of the Constitution, rendering the Time Frame Law argument (Marco temporal, in Portuguese) ineffective. In response, the National Congress approved law 14.701, which determines that Indigenous peoples only have the right to the lands they were occupying from October 5, 1988 onwards. In August 2024, the issue returned to the Supreme Court, now for a conciliation between the parties – Indigenous peoples and large land owners – proposed by Justice Gilmar Mendes. 

“It is in this scenario that we are seeing an increase in cases of violence,” say the organizations. The document calls for urgent measures on the part of the federal government, such as the STF declaring law 14.701 unconstitutional and the maintenance of the National Force in the conflagrated areas, preventing bloody outcomes and giving the Indigenous people proper assistance. The Attorney General’s Office, responsible for the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, calls for an investigation into the crimes committed and for the law to be enforced.

“Finally, to all Brazilian citizens, we call for a permanent vigil, being sure that the extermination of the native peoples is also the death of our future as a nation,” warns the statement, signed by representatives of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI, in Portuguese), the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB, in Portuguese), Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for the Defense of Human Rights (Arns Commission), the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC in Portuguese), the Brazilian Bar Association – São Paulo (OAB-SP, in Portuguese), the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC, in Portuguese) and the Brazilian Press Association (ABI, in Portuguese).