Indigenous travel to the UN in Geneva to denounce violations of their rights in Brazil

Brasil de Fato

A delegation with Indigenous experts and representatives from the Guarani Kaiowá, Avá-Guarani and Xokleng Indigenous people is in Geneva, Switzerland, to denounce at the United Nations (UN) the violence against native peoples in Brazil.

At the 57th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, the delegation reported the attacks by farmers and military police officers who, between July and September in Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul alone, killed one Indigenous man, wounded around 20 and left five people with bullets lodged in their bodies. A 15-year-old Kaiowá teenager also died in circumstances that remain unclear. 

The delegation stressed to the international authorities that the escalation of violence in the country is related to the Time Frame Law 14.701/23. Its approval by the Brazilian Congress at the end of 2023 ignored the recommendations of this same UN body to Brazil. 

“Law 14.701 has stopped demarcations [of Indigenous lands]. They are forcing our people to give up their sacred lands. They set traps and offer us other lands. Congress is working against our rights. The Supreme Court, with Justice Gilmar Mendes, has created a Conciliation Chamber to negotiate rights and favor of the agribusiness sector,” said Simão Guarani Kaiowá in Geneva. 

A survivor of the 2016 Caarapó Massacre, Simão has a bullet lodged near his heart. “We ask the countries that are here, given what the rapporteurs have already said, for God’s sake help us to demand an end Time Frame argument and Law 14.701; to demarcate our lands; to guarantee the safety of our people and the investigation into the murders,” he said.

Alessandra Korap, from the Munduruku people, told Brasil de Fato that by talking about “the issue of drought, the death of our river, wildfires and everything that is happening”, they are making it clear to the international community that “this has a name: agribusiness”. 

Vilma Rios, from the Guassu Guavirá Indigenous Land in the state of Paraná, is another of the Indigenous leaders who made a statement to the United Nations. The young Avá-Guarani woman was hit by lead shots on August 27 in an attack by so-called “farmers” on the retomada tekoha Yvho’i. Retomada is the Portuguese word for areas Indigenous people take back from invaders, most commonly large state owners related to the agribusiness sector.

With the toxic metal lodged in her body, Rios asked UN Council member states to “take clear measures” to “prevent this ongoing genocide perpetrated by state agents and armed militias.”

“We are trying to make the violence we are suffering visible not only in our country but also abroad,” Rios told Brasil de Fato. 

“The Avá-Guarani Indigenous people have suffered a lot since we self-demarcated the Guassu Guavirá Indigenous Land,” she added, referring to the retomadas that have taken place in western Paraná since July. 

“Women play a leading role in this whole situation. Children and youths are suffering in the retomadas, going hungry, not going to school because this conflict is also spreading outside the territory, into the public space, into schools and the city,” described Vilma Avá-Guarani. 

“The scenario is very complicated,” said Paulo Lugon Arantes, an international advisor to the Arns Commission who accompanied the delegation to Geneva. “The Indigenous leaders came here to denounce the strong scheme of armed violence, especially against retomadas. They also came to denounce the Zero Invasion armed militia and deforestation,” he said.

Side event

On Thursday morning (26), the delegation held a side event inside the UN headquarters to deal with these issues. The event allowed for in-depth discussions, unlike the general plenary, where each leader had a minute and a half to speak. For Alessandra Korap, the reduced time is also “a violation”.

“To talk about all the problems we are experiencing and suffering, the attacks and the companies entering our territory, the cut-off point… one and a half minutes is nothing,” says Korap.

“I realized that the UN need to listen more. It needs to know what is really happening to Indigenous peoples,” says the Munduruku leader. “We need to keep putting pressure on the UN, but also on the Brazilian government,” she says.

The panel on Thursday (26) included the UN Human Rights Council rapporteur on Indigenous peoples, diplomat José Francisco Cali Tzay; Erilsa Braz dos Santos, a Pataxó Indigenous woman from the Barra Velha Indigenous Land in Bahia; Brasílio Priprá, from the Xokleng people of the Ibirama Laklano Indigenous Land in Santa Catarina; Maurício Terena, legal director of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib, in Portuguese), as well as Alessandra and Vilma. Luís Ventura, from the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi, in Portuguese), mediated the discussion.

Under the title “Territorial rights of Indigenous peoples – The cut-off point and violence against peoples”, the debate was organized by Cimi, Apib, Aty Guasu (Great Guarani Kaiowá Assembly), Arns Commission, Fian Brasil, Fian International, Indigenous Peoples Mission Council (Comin), Vivat, Minority Rights Group and WBO – Brazil Office Washington.