This Week in Human Rights News

Luta Pela Vida: 6,000 Indigenous protestors organise in Brasília to defend Indigenous lands 

Sources: Mongabay, The Intercept (1, 2), Vox, The Guardian, APIB Official, CIMI, ABS News

Last week, more than 6,000 leaders representing 176 Indigenous groups staged a seven day protest and cultural exchange in Brasília, less than a mile away from Brazil’s Congress and Supreme Court. 

The demonstration, called Luta Pela Vida or ‘Struggle for Life’, came ahead of an anticipated landmark Supreme Court ruling that could impact the amount of Indigenous lands protected by the Brazilian constitution. 

“It is one of the most important judgments in history,” said APIB leader Sônia Guajajara, “the struggle of Indigenous peoples is a struggle for the future of humanity.”  

The measure that will be ruled on, called the ‘marco temporal’ , could invalidate the land rights of Indigenous groups by stating that they can only lay claim to land they were living on in 1988 or before. The cut-off point, 1988, marks the year the Brazilian Constitution came into effect and officially recognised the rights of Indigenous peoples, who were until then under guardianship by the State, and were not allowed to fight for their rights.

Indigenous rights defenders argue that the marco temporal’s 1988 cut-off date is arbitrary and effectively ignores the forced displacement and genocide that Indigenous Brazilian people have been experiencing since colonisation began in the 1500s. 

Brazil’s agribusiness, mining and lumber industries are incredibly powerful actors when it comes to influencing and lobbying land and rainforest use, aided by both international backers, such as the investment firm Blackstone and US agribusiness farms, and far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro took office in 2019 after campaigning on an election promise that ‘there won’t be a centimetre demarcated for Indigenous reserves.’ Under his government, deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest surged to a 12-year high in 2020. 

Most of the Indigenous reserves are inside the Amazon rainforest, and Indigenous protectors have been at the forefront of conservation efforts for the “lungs of the planet” (the forest produces approximately a fifth of the world’s oxygen, and by absorbing more CO2 than it creates, it acts as a ‘carbon sink’, helping to regulate global warming). Conservation efforts include patrolling and monitoring signs of illegal forest activity, which have surged since Bolsonaro took office and emboldened land grabbers and the agriculture industry. 

Indigenous defenders have also been seeing increased risk and violence. In 2019, at least 113 Indigenous people were killed. Between 2018 and 2020, 42 members of the Guajajara tribe, which includes the Guajajara Guardians who protect around 1,500 square miles of rainforest, were killed. Reports in 2019 also recorded cases of intentional bodily injuries, racism and ethnic-cutural discrimination, and sexual violence against Indigenous peoples.

The ruling on ‘marco temporal’ was delayed on August 28 after one vote was cast in favour of Indigenous rights. Even if the measure is defeated, Indigenous groups and rights defenders will continue to face threats to their lands under Bolsonaro’s presidency.