Brazilian Amerindians Request Statute of Indigenous Peoples
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5/27/99
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Title: Brazilian Amerindians Request Statute of Indigenous Peoples
Source: Indigenous Missionary Council
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: May 27, 1999
Newsletter n 362
AMERINDIANS PRODUCE SIGNED PETITION WITH OVER 90,000 SIGNATURES
EQUESTING PASSAGE OF THE STATUTE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Indigenous representatives from several regions of the country who
are members of the Council for the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples
and Organizations of Brazil (Capoib), together with Cimi officials
and federal congresspersons, delivered a signed petition with 93,868
signatures collected in Brazil and abroad to the presidents of the
Chamber of Representatives, Michel Temer, and of the Senate, Antonio
Carlos Magalhaes.
The signed petition requests the passage of Bill n 2057/91 (Statute
of Indigenous Peoples), proposed by federal representative Luciano
Pizzato(Liberal Front Party-state of Paran ) to replace the statute
presently in force. The National Congress has failed to pass the new
statute since 1994.
The Statute is an urgent claim of indigenous peoples in Brazil, who
need a new law to replace Law 6001 (Statute of Amerindians), which
has been in force since 1973. This new law adjusts the old one to
advances enshrined in the Federal Constitution of 1998, which ensured
indigenous peoples fundamental rights to a land of their own and to
social organization, to live according to their culture, beliefs and
traditions, and to a special health and education assistance.
The president of the Chamber of Representatives said that the signed
petitions will be useful to speed up the review of the bill. The
president of the Senate and of the Congress, Antonio Carlos
Magalhaes, promised, in turn, to press for the Statute to be voted on
before the "celebrations" of the 500th anniversary of the "discovery
of Brazil." The signatures were collected since last year through
petitions and postcards distributed by Cimi, representing the
National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB),Capoib and the
Council for the Mission among Amerindians (Comin) of the Evangelical
Lutheran Confession Church in Brazil (IECLB).
Altogether, Cimi received 68,103 signatures from all over Brazil and
25,712 from abroad, totalling 93,868 signatures, including 53
drawings by elementary school students from Bras-lia in support of
the Statute. In addition to the signed petitions, 5,000 postcards
were directly sent to the office of the president of the Chamber of
Representatives last year.
SENATE COMMITTEE PASSES ILO CONVENTION 169
It was a victory for indigenous peoples. The External Relations
Committee of the Federal Senate passed on Wednesday, May 26,
Legislative Decree bill n. 34, which deals with Convention 169 of the
International Labour Organization (ILO). The voting session was
attended by Cimi and indigenous leaders, who celebrated the final
outcome.
The presence of indigenous representatives, who spent the whole day
at the Senate talking to different congresspersons, was essential to
ensure the result of the voting. Of the 12 Senators who attended the
session, only two declared that they did not agree
with the Convention, defended in a report prepared by senators Tiao
Vianna (Workers' Party - state of Acre), Lodio Coelho (Party of the
Brazilian Social Democracy - state of Mato Grosso do Sul), and
Mozarildo Cavalcante(Liberal Front Party - state of Roraima), who
abstained from voting.
Convention 169 was passed by the Chamber of Representatives in 1993
and since then it has been reviewed by various Senate committees.
After the voting session of the External Relations Committee, it will
be reviewed in a plenary session of the Senate. If passed, it will be
submitted to the president of the Republic for his sanction.
Indigenous peoples and organizations have been anxiously waiting for
the Brazilian Government to ratify this international agreement
dealing with general political topics, indigenous lands, working
conditions, health and education, ensuring the participation of
indigenous parties in issues related to these topics.
PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY COMMITTEE WILL INVESTIGATE FUNAI
The Chamber of Representatives set up a Parliamentary Inquiry
Committee (CPI) this week to investigate the National Amerindian
Foundation (Funai), the agency officially in charge of indigenous
issues. The Committee is chaired by federal representative Alceste
Almeida (Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement - state of
Roraima), with representative Elton Rohnelt (Liberal Front Party -
state of Roraima) as vice chairman and representative Antonio Feijao
(Party of the Brazilian Social Democracy - state of Amap ) as
rapporteur, three of the main opposers of indigenous rights in the
National Congress. The establishment of this committee was proposed
in 1995 by representative Elthon Rohnelt.
According to the statements of representatives Rohnelt and Feijao to
the press, the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee was set up to
investigate Funai's relations with international non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), how it has been applying the funds earmarked to
it and difficulties faced by mining companies to operate in
indigenous areas. Despite the problems of the agency, which has been
repeatedly involved in corruption scandals, the main interest of this
Parliamentary Committee is the demarcation of indigenous areas.
The Committee may become a CPI for reducing indigenous areas. The
x anti-indigenous congressional bloc complains that indigenous areas
are too large, mentioning the Yanomami and Raposa/Serra do Sol areas
as examples.
In April, representative Antonio Feijao declared that this CPI would
not be set up if Administrative Ruling n 820, of December of last
year, which demarcated the indigenous area in Roraima, were revoked,
an act that boils down to blackmail.
The representative declared that he would be willing to cancel the
request for the Funai CPI to be established in exchange for a new
Ruling demarcating the area in "islands" and not as a continuous
strip, as determined by the ministry of Justice.
Bras-lia, 27 May 1999
Indianist Missionary Council - Cimi