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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
World
Bank to Address Brazilian Rainforest & Indigenous Issues
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
2/12/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
The
Indianist Missionary Council of Brazil reports that the World
Bank is
to make a stand on the new Brazilian government decree
which
reneges on earlier pledges of demarcation of Indian lands.
Much of
the Amazon is to be opened to miners, settlers and other
invaders. Local organizations are pressuring the World
Bank to
discontinue
bank funding in several key areas. This
item was
posted
in econet's rainfor.general conference.
See the Brazil
directory:
gopher://gaia1.ies.wisc.edu:70/11/research/wforests/brazil
of the
Gaia Forest Archives:
http://gaia1.ies.wisc.edu/research/pngfores
for
more information.
g.b.
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/*
Written 5:57 AM Feb 12, 1996 by ax:cimi in
igc:rainfor.genera
*/
/*
---------- "World Bank receives Capoib represen" ---------- */
Newsletter
n. 196
WORLD BANK RECEIVES CAPOIB
REPRESENTATIVES
The
World Bank will take a stand on Decree 1,775 in two weeks.
This
was the main result of the meeting between representatives of
the
Bank and of the Council for the Articulation of Indigenous
Peoples
and Organizations of Brazil (Capoib) that was held on
Tuesday,
February 6. In the meeting, that was held at the request
of the
Indians, a document was delivered to the representatives of
the
World Bank requesting the temporary suspension of funds to be
released
to the Indigenous Lands Project, Panafloro and Prodeagro.
The
indigenous representatives warned that ``the implementation of
any
plan or project to legalize and demarcate indigenous lands
according
to the true interests and rights of indigenous peoples
may be
jeopardized as long as the present Indianist policy remains
in
force, which today is essentially based on Decree 1,775/96.''
According
to Capoib, Brazil has adopted a deliberate policy to
reduce
indigenous territories, which includes the establishment of
smooth
mechanisms for states and municipalities, as well as
invaders
and other persons interested in indigenous lands, to
contest
the bounds of those territories. ``With
the publication
of
Decree 1,775/96, the federal administration is clearly
forsaking
its constitutional duty to demarcate indigenous lands...
demarcations
are not being determined by indigenous rights, but
rather
by the alleged right of third parties and public powers to
contest
them,'' Capoib denounces. The representative of the World
Bank in
Brazil, Dennis Mahar, informed the indigenous leaders and
entities
attending the meeting that the legal department of the
Bank is
studying the new decree and that the position to be taken
by the
institution in relation to it will take into account the
arguments
that were presented at the meeting.
Last
Monday, February 5, Minister Nelson Jobim took part in the
first
debate on the decree promoted by the newspaper Folha de Sao
Paulo.
In that debate, which was also attended by jurist Dalmo
Dallari,
who is against Decree 1,775, the Minister resorted to old
arguments
to defend it. Uncomfortable in the presence of an
audience
that tended to favor the revocation of Decree 1,775, the
Minister
revealed that he will not discuss the matter with anyone
who is
against the possibility of contesting the demarcation of
indigenous
areas. The Newspaper cited Cimi and Capoib as examples
of
entities criticized by Jobim.
LAWYERS
REQUEST REVOCATION OF THE DECREE
The
Environment Commission of the Brazilian BAR Association, Sco
Paulo
Division, approved on February 5 a motion rejecting Decree
1,775.
The document asks the Office of the Attorney General to
take
appropriate measures to revoke or annul Decree 1,775, which
in the
opinion of the Commission is aimed at creating procedural
confusion,
gives rise to a historical-anthropological distrust on
the
part of indigenous peoples and shows ignorance of the original
right
of indigenous peoples. ``We see that the adversary system...
does
not comply with any rule providing for terms, means for
presenting
evidence or procedures.'' The Motion against the Decree
of the
Brazilian BAR Association was sent to the President of the
Republic,
to the minister of Justice, to the ambassadors of the G-
7
countries and to the Interamerican Human Rights Committee.
Brasilia,
February 9th, 1996
Indianist
Missionary Council
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