URGENT
ACTION ALERT
***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Brazil
Justice Minister Delays Macuxi Land Demarcation
Over 1,500,000 Hectares Could Be Opened
for Development in the Amazon
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
7/25/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
The
Brazilian government's attempts to renege on pledges to demarcate
indigenous
lands continue. In recent developments,
the Environmental
Defense
Fund reports that the Brazilian Justice Minister has decided to
allow 8
contestations of indigeneous land claims to move forward. The
Macuxi
lands--in particular the Raposa Serra do Sol area--are the largest
and
most controversial of the 8 contested areas.
Raposa Serra do Sol
covers
1,678,800 hectares (6,482 square miles, an area half again
as big
as Connecticut), and is inhabited by 11,000 Macuxi, Ingariko,
Wapixana,
Taurepang and Patamona Indians.
International pressure has been
a major
force in forestalling indigenous land demarcation changes.
However,
if such a large area which was marked for indigenous demarcation
is
allowed to revert to undemarcated land, a dangerous precedence will be
set
which ultimately could lead to the demise of the Amazonian ecosystem.
Please
respond to this EDF Action Alert, and attached sample letter, which
was
posted in econet's rainfor.general conference.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
/**
rainfor.genera: 165.0 **/
**
Topic: Action Alert -- Macuxi Demarcation **
**
Written 5:36 AM Jul 25, 1996 by
Kenneth_Walsh.EDF@smtpgw.edf.org in
cdp:rai
nfor.genera
**
From:
Kenneth Walsh <Kenneth_Walsh.EDF@smtpgw.edf.org>
Date:
Thu, 25 Jul 1996 04:49:08 -0400
ENVIRONMENTAL
DEFENSE FUND
1875
Connecticut Ave., NW, 10th Fl.
Washington,
D.C. 20009
Tel.:
202 387-3500;
Fax:
202 234-6049;
steves@edf.org
From:
Steve Schwartzman Date: July 24, 1996
URGENT
ACTION - BRAZIL JUSTICE MINISTER DELAYS MACUXI
DEMARCATION
Government
rejects claims against 34 indigenous areas, but effects of
Decree
1775 may still be felt
International
environmental and indigenous rights organizations have over
the
last year played an important role in the defense of indigenous land
rights
in Brazil, by maintaining consistent pressure on the government of
Brazil
to honor its constitutional obligation to demarcate and defend
indigenous
territory. Indigenous and indigenous
rights organizations in
Brazil
were deeply concerned that new regulations for Indian land
demarcation,
issued in Decree 1775 of January 8, 1996, would result in
major
reductions of Indian land, even in already demarcated areas. Under
Decree
1775, more than 150 areas in process of demarcation were opened to
challenge
by state governments, counties and private claimants. Activists
feared
that the government would trade away Indian land to regional
interests
in exchange for Congressional support for liberal economic policy
reforms. International protest and ongoing scrutiny
of the process, in
conjunction
with local and national mobilization in Brazil, have helped
counterbalance
pressures for the reduction of Indian land.
Some
536 challenges were lodged against 42 areas.
Brazil's Indian agency,
FUNAI,
recommended rejection of all of these. On July 10, Minister of
Justice
Nelson Jobim, the final arbiter of the question, issued the
government's
decision. Jobim definitively rejected the challenges to 34
areas. In 8 cases, however, he called for FUNAI to
carry our further
studies,
which must be done in 90 days.
Continued international attention
to
these cases, and to the effects of the decree, are now critical for
several
reasons.
Although
Minister Jobim has energetically defended the decree, in
Washington
and Brussels as well as Brasilia, as needed to forestall legal
challenges
to the constitutionality of reserves created under the previous
regulations,
revising the rules has not affected the legal battle. The key
case,
Satin Agropecuaria ,s Supreme Court challenge of the Sete Cerros
Guarani
area remains pending. Further, states and private claimants whose
challenges
under Decree 1775 were rejected may now go to court. In this
context
even a few concessions to regional special interests could open a
judicial
Pandora's Box, with prejudicial effects for indigenous land rights
and
other types of protected areas. In
addition, Jobim has argued that the
government
intends to move on the dozens of pending demarcations once
having
dealt with the challenges. While a
number of demarcation decrees
have
been signed in recent months, the process has been slow and uneven.
There
are now 114 areas that were open to challenge under Decree 1775, but
were
not challenged, in addition to the 34 areas for which the challenges
were
rejected. There is no legal or
technical reason for the demarcation
process
not to proceed at once in these cases.
The danger is that, as
municipal
elections approach (in the fall), and as the government
continues
to struggle to assemble Congressional support for the economic
reform
plan, recognition of indigenous land rights will once again fall
victim
to short-term political expediency and the demarcation process stop.
The
Macuxi lands--in particular the Raposa Serra do Sol area--are a crucial
test in
this process. The largest and most
controversial of the 8
contested
areas on which decisions are still pending, Raposa Serra do Sol
covers
1,678,800 hectares (6,482 square miles, an area half again
as big
as Connecticut), and is inhabited by some 11,000 Macuxi, Ingariko,
Wapixana,
Taurepang and Patamona Indians. The area was identified by FUNAI
(the
first step in the official recognition, or "demarcation" process) in
1992
and sent to the Justice Ministry for authorization of the official
demarcation
in 1993, where it has remained, blocked by regional interests,
since. Local politicians have argued tendentiously
that the demarcation of
the
area would impede the economic development of the state. In fact the
state,
a federal territory until 1988, has never had an independent
economic
base beyond wildcat mining (garimpo) and has subsisted on federal
subventions
since its creation. The gold boom of
the 1980's nonetheless
brought
massive migration to the state, whose population increased fivefold
from
1970 to 1991.
The
Macuxi and related groups have been in contact with colonists and
national
societies in Brazil and neighboring Guyana and Venezuela for the
last
four hundred years. Outside of Raposa Serra do Sol and the Sao Marcos
reserve,
they have largely been pushed onto small, disconnected
islands
of land by ranchers and colonists who occupied most of their
traditional
land. Nonetheless, some 42% of land of
the state is occupied
by
about 35,000 Indians, who currently comprise 16% of the state
population,
the highest proportion of any Brazilian state.
The
situation of the Macuxi, already marginal, deteriorated in the 1980s
with
the advent of the gold rush. When,
under international pressure, the
federal
government moved to remove illegal gold miners from the Yanomami
lands,
many invaded or were redirected by the state government into the
Raposa
Serra do Sol area. Unlike the Yanaomami
area, the Macuxi lands were
not
demarcated, effectively legitimating the invasions. Gold and diamond
miners
have brought epidemics of malaria and leshmaniasis, as well as
alcohol,
prostitution and venereal disease to the region. Major
water
courses in the ecologically unique upland savannah have been degraded
and
polluted by mining and fish and game depleted.
Violent conflicts were
also
aggravated by the gold rush. In the
last eight years, a dozen Macuxi
have
been killed by non-Indians in the Raposa Serra do Sol area, in
addition
to many more cases of beatings, threats, intimidation, destruction
of
goods and property, and illegal imprisonment, frequently involving the
civil
and military police. Impunity for the
perpetrators is the rule.
According
to the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR), in the last three
years
53 federal police investigations involving Indians were opened and 12
concluded,
four without indictments. Ten of the
ongoing investigations are
of
crimes committed by civil and military police.
The general picture, as
characterized
by Macuxi leader Euclides Pereira, CIR coordinator, is one of
institutionalized
violence against the Macuxi.
By
failing to honor its constitutional obligation to demarcate and defend
the
Raposa Serra do Sol area, the Brazilian government is contributing to
ongoing
environmental degradation and chronic conflicts in the area.
Further
delaying a decision risks seriously worsening an already explosive
situation. Taking the wrong decision (i.e., failure to
demarcate the
continuous
Raposa Serra do Sol area) would ensure mayhem, and seriously
prejudice
the future of indigenous lands all over Brazil that await
demarcation.
INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC OPINION CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW.
Minister
of Justice Jobim has privately stated his awareness of and concern
with
international scrutiny of the Raposa/ Serra do Sol area. The
Indigenous
Council of Roraima (CIR) has asked for support, emphasizing: 1)
that
the demarcation proceed without delay; 2) that the Minister go to
Roraima
to meet with CIR leaders in the immediate future, as he has
stated
that he intends to visit the state before reaching a decision.
PLEASE
FAX, EMAIL, OR WRITE President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, with copy
to
Minister Jobim, calling for the Minister to come to a decision on this
area
without further delay, and for the demarcation of the continuous
Raposa
Serra do Sol area.
Exmo.
Sr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Emxo. Sr. Nelson
Jobim
Presidente da Republica Ministro
da Justica
Palacio
do Planalto Esplanada
dos Ministerios- Bl.T
Brasilia
- DF- 70150-900 Brasilia -
DF - 70064-900
Brazil Brazil
fax -
55-61-226-7566 fax -
55-61-224-2448
email -
gppr@cr_df.rnp.br email -
njobim@ax.apc.org
FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION: EDF has prepared a background paper on the Macuxi,
available
on request to wild@edf.org .
A model
letter follows:
Dear
Mr. President:
Your
government's revision of regulations concerning the demarcation of
indigenous
lands in Decree no. 1775/96 has, as you
know, caused serious
concern
among indigenous, indigenous rights and environmental organizations
in
Brazil and among their partners and supporters internationally.
Minister
of Justice Jobim's decision on the 42 indigenous areas contested
under
Decree 1775, as published in the Diario Oficial of July 10 was
consequently
carefully observed around the world. We
understand that,
while
the Minister has definitively rejected the challenges to 34
areas,
he has called for FUNAI to carry out further studies on 8 areas,
which
according to Decree 1775 should be done within 90 days.
We are
concerned that, although the Minister has consistently emphasized
that
Decree 1775 was intended to rationalize and streamline the demarcation
process,
no steps have to date been taken to complete the process in the 32
areas
contested where the challenges were rejected, nor in the 114 other
indigenous
areas that were open to challenge under the decree but were not
contested.
We are
further concerned that in the 8 areas on which FUNAI was ordered to
carry
out further studies, timely decisions be taken that guarantee the
integrity
of the indigenous lands in question.
Among
these 8 areas, the Raposa Serra do Sol area of the Macuxi and
Ingariko
Indians of Roraima state is of particular importance. This area
was
identified by FUNAI in 1993 and has awaited ministerial approval for
its
demarcation to proceed ever since. The
area has been the scene of
repeated
and flagrant human rights violations (as amply documented, for
xample,
in the Human Rights Watch/Americas report "Brazil: Violence Against
the
Macuxi and Wapixana Indians in Raposa Serra do Sol and Northern Roraima
from
1988 to 1994.") Regional interests have opposed the demarcation of a
continuous
area for the Macuxi and Ingariko with the tendentious argument
that
the demarcation would obstruct the economic development of the state.
The
apparent success of the regional elite in blocking the demarcation to
date
has created conditions for large scale invasion of the area by gold
miners
as well as ongoing human rights violations, including intimidation,
threats,
destruction of property, and homicides.
The Indigenous Council of
Roraima
has aptly characterized the situation as one of institutionalized
violence
against the Macuxi. Consequently, further delays in the
demarcation
are likely to aggravate an already tense and potentially
explosive
situation, in addition to delaying measures for the conservation
of the
unique natural resources of the area, already threatened with
serious
degradation.
We
respectfully urge you to proceed without further delay to demarcate the
continuous
Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous area. We
understand that
Minister
Jobim has announced his intention to visit the area and hope that
he does
so as soon as possible, so that the risk of seriously increased
violence
be averted. Thank you for your
attention.
Sincerely,
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
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