Newsletter n°. 711: Congress sets up joint committee to deal with indigenous issues as a result of pressures from the Indigenous April demonstrations
Newsletter n°. 711
– Congress sets up joint committee to deal with indigenous issues as a result of pressures from the Indigenous April demonstrations
– Squatters and indigenous people block highway to protest against non-removal of non-indigenous people from the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous land
– Five indigenous lands have their bounds officially confirmed
Congress SETS UP joint committee to deal with indigenous issues as a result of pressures from the Indigenous April demonstrations
During a joint session held yesterday night, April 18, the National Congress approved the creation of a Special Temporary Joint Committee to “study, discuss and propose mechanisms for promoting the social inclusion and citizenship rights of indigenous peoples.” The committee, which will be made up of 11 representatives and 11 senators, will have a deadline of 249 days to conclude its activities.
The representatives and senators making up the committee will consult governors, mayors, ministers and experts, hold public audiences, and visit different locations in the country to know the claims of indigenous people and other sectors of society.
The National Congress set up the committee as a result of pressures from the Land Free demonstrations, which gathered 550 indigenous people in a camp set up at the Esplanada dos Ministérios square in Brasília early in April of this year. The indigenous people met the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party – state of Alagoas) and the president of the Chamber of Representatives, Aldo Rebelo (Communist Party of Brazil – state of São Paulo) and asked them to hear what indigenous communities and organizations have to say about bills affecting them. Rebelo had proposed the creation of a Permanent Committee in the Chamber of Representatives and after a meeting held on the following day, April 6, with the president of the Senate, the proposal to set up the Joint Committee was defined. This was the Committee that was set up yesterday night. Senator Paulo Paim (Workers’ Party – state of Rio Grande do Sul) was the congressperson who submitted the request for setting up the committee that was passed yesterday in a plenary session.
Squatters and indigenous people block highway to protest against non-removal of non-indigenous people from the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous land
The Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) reported on Wednesday, the 19th, that about 200 indigenous people and squatters blocked the BR-174 highway in the state of Roraima from the morning until 06:00 p.m. to protest against the removal of non-indigenous occupants from the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous land. The federal highway connects Boa Vista to the city of Santa Elena de Uairén in Venezuela.
The protests were related to a one-year deadline for non-indigenous occupants to leave the Raposa Serra do Sol land which expired on April 15, one year after the official confirmation of the bounds of the land, and was not complied with. The delay is related to political pressures against the demarcation of the indigenous land, but the federal administration, particularly through the National Land Reform Institute (Incra), said that the non-indigenous occupants are being removed and that they will begin to be resettled and compensated. Information was disseminated that about of 97% of the non-indigenous families are being registered by Incra and Funai for this purpose.
The BR-174 highway was blocked at about 160 kilometers from the capital of the state of Roraima, Boa Vista, by indigenous people, small squatters, rice growers and authorities from the municipality of Pacaraima. A CIR team which visited the location at about 05:00 p.m. reported that the protest had begun in the morning with trucks, tractors and buses. According to the team, the line of cars was over 10-kilometer long.
Assembly at the Raposa Serra do Sol land
Beginning on Friday, the 21st, the Coordinating Board of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon Region (Coiab) will be holding its 8th General Assembly in the Maturuca village, located in the Raposa Serra do Sol land. According to Coiab, that location was selected as a “gesture of solidarity towards indigenous peoples of the region, who one year after the bounds of their land was officially confirmed are still facing threats from invaders, who have not been removed from the indigenous land by the Government so far, as provided for in a presidential decree.”
Still according to Coiab, its Assembly will discuss topics related to its political and institutional restructuring, as well as that of the indigenous movement in the Amazon region. On the occasion of the Assembly, a Meeting will also be held to suggest members from the north region of the country to make up the National Indigenous Policy Committee (CNPI) set up through a presidential decree on March 22, 2006.
Five indigenous lands have their bounds officially confirmed
Five indigenous lands had their bounds officially confirmed on Wednesday, April 19, when the “Day of Indigenous People” is celebrated in Brazil. The lands in question are the following ones: Arara do Igarapé Humaitá, in the state of Acre, Barreirinha and Kuruaya, in the state of Pará, Rio Omerê, in the state of Rondônia, and Inawébohona, in the state of Tocantins.
Of all these lands, Inawébohona is the largest one and has a large historical record of conflicts. Located on the Bananal Island, in the Araguaia river, state of Tocantins, the Javaé, Karajá and Avá-Canoeiro indigenous peoples live in it. Declared an indigenous land by the ministry of Justice in 2001, the process to have its bounds officially confirmed was referred to the president for his signature on April 18, 2005 by minister Marcio Thomaz Bastos. But the land was not homologated and the respective procedures were stalled. The process did not reach the Office of the President of the Republic and was sent back to Funai. After many visits to Brasília of indigenous people who live in the land to pressure the president of Funai to conclude the procedure, the land finally had its bounds officially confirmed yesterday.
Inawébohona is affected by the encroaching of the Araguaia National Park on it, which creates problems for the communities in their daily life, since the existence of the Park imposes restrictions on the use of its space by indigenous people. Through the homologating decree, it was defined that the national park will be jointly managed by the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai), the Brazilian environmental agency, Ibama, and the indigenous communities that live on the Island. Through the action of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, a meeting was scheduled for May 30 to define arrangements for the Park’s management.
Brasília, April 20, 2006
Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council
