The Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI) launches the 30^th of May a report on the violence against indigenous peoples in Brazil during 2003-2005. The data was collected by the fieldworkers of CIMI and were published in the newspapers.

In the introduction the vice-president of CIMI, Saulo Feitosa, makes clear that there is an inversely proportional relation between land demarcation and violence. Between 2003 and 2005 the average number of declared land per year did not pass the number of 6. In the same period, the average of murders of indigenous people per year was over 40. “Less demarcated land, means more cases of violence.”

 

The number of murders of indigenous people was 42 in 2003, 37 in 2004 and 43 in 2005. They are consequences of family conflicts, fights and internal political disputes. The majority of these cases was situated in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in western Brazil, with respectively 13, 18 and 29 victims. Also in most of the other analyzed cases of violence Mato Grosso do Sul has the highest score.

 

The daily situation in Mato Grosso do Sul is very tense, especially under the Guarani-Kaiowá people, who live in small plots of land, camping near the road, or staying together with other groups in demarcated land, where there is almost no space left to plant sufficient food crops. Men are forced to work outside the indigenous villages and families can hardly survive.

The precarious situation of the Guarani-Kaiowá people can also be seen in the number of suicide cases. In 2003 22 Guarani-Kaiowá committed suicide, in 2004 18, and in 2005 the number, unfortunately, increased again up to 28. In the whole of Brazil the suicide number was respectively 24, 18 and 31. Of the 31 cases in 2005, 20 were committed by young people (under 20 years).

The high amount of suicide victims among the Guarani-Kaiowá people is related to the bad living conditions. They are used to life a nomad life and to be packed up in a small area, has a great influence on their mental spirit. Besides this sometimes a cultural motive is involved. The Guarani search for a place revealed to them by their ancestors where people live free from pain and suffering. They call it the ‘land without evil’, and they are still seeking it. If they don’t find that land in this life, they choose for another life.

 

The number of murder attempts against indigenous people in Brazil reached up to 23 cases in 2003, of which 21 against individuals and two against complete communities. In 2004 there were 38 cases (51 individuals) and until half of 2005 the attempts already counted 33 cases (62 victims).

 

Also the index of death threats joins individuals and complete communities. In 2003 not only 52 people of the Xukuru community (state of Pernambuco) had received death threats, also the whole Xokleng community (state of Santa Catarina), existing of 1700 persons, had been threaten. In 2004 there were 14 cases, involving 22 individuals, the community of Koiupanká (state of Alagoas), the leaders of the Terena and Guarani-Kaiowá people (state of Mato Grosso do Sul) and children of the Katukina-people in the state of Acre. Until August 2005 the number of death threats run up to 13 cases , of which 33 individual victims, 30 families of the Amanayé community in the state Para and all the Macuxi-students of the school in Surumu (state Roraima).

 

Conflicts related to land rights are increasing as well. In 2003 there were 26 conflicts related to land, in 2004 the number increased to 41 and in the first half of 2005 the number already reached 31. Again Mato Grosso do Sul has the highest score here: 2003 > 23, 2004 > 28 and 2005 > 17.

The most well-known case in this category is the murder of 29 gold miners by the Cinta Larga people in 2004. Beside this there are invasions of the indigenous areas by illegal wood logging companies, rice cultivators or great landowners, illegal exploration of natural resources and destroying of the food crops.

 

Regarding to the land demarcation process there is an enormous delay. In the last three years there were ratification cases that had taken up to more than one year to be signed.

At the end of 2005 27 areas are still waiting for there decision at the Ministry of Justice.

 

In the report there is special attention for the situation among indigenous children and adolescents. First of all it has to be mentioned that in case of murder attempts or death threats against indigenous villages or complete communities, children and adolescents are present as well and are submitted to insecure and terrifying situations. As there is the case in 2004, when Katukina children were threaten, accompanying their fathers, who went to the city to pick up their retirements.

Under the murders there was a Xucuru-youngster of 19 years in 2003 and a Truká of 17 in 2005. Of the 18 victims in 2004 in Mato Grosso do Sul, 7 were younger than 18 years.

 

Also in the conflicts related to land, children and adolescents suffer a lot. Due to the slow processes of land demarcation children and adolescents are in fear of eviction of the lands, are packed up into small areas and sometimes have to camp in miserable situations among the roadsides. This caused in the first half of 2005 in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where there exists many land conflicts, a high number of child mortality (malnutrition – 31 victims, and other causes – 8).

 

The last three years there is an increase of sexual violence, among which raping, attempts to rape, assaulting and stimulating of prostitution: 10 in 2003, 18 in 2004 and in 2005 (until August) already 13 cases. The majority of the victims were indigenous children between 6 and 13 years. And again most of the cases took place in Mato Grosso do Sul. In this state also two victims died after an act of sexual violence in 2004. A worrying fact is the sexual violence practiced by indigenous people themselves. This does not happen in remote areas but mostly in indigenous areas located close by cities.

 

Another type of violence is the worrying situation about indigenous education. Indigenous peoples in Brazil have the right to have their own educational system – lessons in their own language, an adjusted curriculum, valorizing the rituals and indigenous festivities, but this is in one third of the states in Brazil not realized yet. Other published facts about the indigenous education are: the schoolbuildings are in bad state, many times there is a delay in the payment of the indigenous teachers, and after 4 years of education in the indigenous villages students have to go to the nearby cities, were discrimination of indigenous people is common and increasing.

 

In the final chapter of the report are presented data about isolated indigenous peoples. Of the 60 known isolated peoples in Brazil (Amazon), at least 17 run serious risk of extinguishing due to genocide practices, practiced by extermination groups, hired by illegal landowners, wood logging companies and great farmers. The strategy is to finish with the presence of indigenous peoples, so that demarcation of the lands by the indigenous people will be impossible, and the land can serve for private property, exploration of natural resources, cattle farms and agro-business.

 

 

The complete report (in Portuguese the title is: ´Violência contra os Povos Indígenas no Brasil´) can be found on the site of CIMI: www.cimi.org.br.

 

CIMI, Brasilia, 29^th of May 2006

 

For more information you can contact:

Geertje van der Pas, [email protected], +55 61 21061650