DECISION OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICE ALLOWS OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF THE BOUNDS OF THE RAPOSA/SERRA DO SOL AREA

 

The chief justice of the Supreme Court, Carlos Ayres Britto, suspended yesterday, the 15th, preliminary orders for the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous land, located in the state of Roraima, to be demarcated in two separate areas.

 

The final decision on the competence of the Supreme Court to judge the case and on the grounds of the Popular Action can only be made by all the justices of the Supreme Court collectively. However, this decision removed obstacles to the official confirmation of the bounds of the Raposa/Serra do Sol area as a continuous strip and the definition of the homologation once again depends on the President of the Republic.

 

The suspended preliminary orders were issued in connection with Popular Action n. 9994200000014-7, which is being analyzed by a federal court in Roraima, and bill of review n. 2004.01.00.011002-0, which is being processed by the Federal Court of Appeals of the 1st Region. The request was made by the Federal Attorney’s Office (AGU). They will be considered null until the grounds of a Complaint (RCL nº 2833) filed by the Attorney General, Cláudio Fontelles, is judged.  Ayres Britto is the justice reporting the Complaint.

 

The justice also accepted the involvement of the Federal Administration in the proceeding as the plaintiff of the Complaint.

 

Background – The Popular Action in question challenges Administrative Ruling n. 820/98 issued by the Minister of State for Justice, according to which the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous land is to be demarcated as a continuous area. 

 

Early this year, federal judge Helder Girão, of the 1st court of the Judiciary Section of Roraima, accepted part of what was request in the Popular Action on a preliminary basis and suspended the inclusion of already established urban and rural settlements with equipment, different facilities, and federal, state and municipal public roads in the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous area.

 

The decision suspended the legal effects of part of the Administrative Ruling issued by the ministry of Justice, which had declared the bounds of the indigenous land and determined its demarcation, which was carried out between 1999 and 2000.

 

Through the District Attorney’s Office and the indigenous Maturuca community, the Federal Prosecution Service, the Federal Administration, and Funai filed appeals (bills of review) with the Federal Court of Appeals of the 1st Region. In it, judge Selene Maria de Almeida not only confirmed the first-degree preliminary but also expanded its effects, excluding other areas mentioned in the administrative ruling issued by the ministry of Justice.

 

In September of this year, the Attorney General filed a Complaint (RCL 2833) with the Supreme Court in which he argues that there is a conflict of interests between the Federal Administration and the State of Roraima in the Popular Action against the demarcation of the Raposa/ Serra do Sol indigenous land and that, for this reason, the Popular Action should be judged by the Supreme Court. A Complaint is a judicial measure dealing with the preservation of the competence of the Supreme Court.

 

In September, a preliminary order issued in connection with repossession actions filed by rice farmers of Roraima had been already suspended by justice Carlos Ayres Britto. 

 

 

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION CREATES NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR INDIGENOUS EDUCATION

 

For the purpose of advising the Ministry of Education (MEC) in the process of defining policies and actions for indigenous school education, the National Commission for Indigenous Education was created yesterday, the 15th. The Commission is a consultative body made up of 15 members: 10 indigenous teachers, four leaders of the indigenous movement, and the indigenous representative to the National Education Council.

 

This commission expanded the National Commission of Indigenous Teachers, which was created in 2001, by allowing representatives of the indigenous movement to take part in it. 

 

The commission is having a meeting in Brasília which will last until Friday for planning its activities in 2005. Edilene Bezerra, teacher of the Truká people and member of the group, believes that the meeting will afford a good opportunity for receiving reports of the situation of the indigenous school education in the states. “In the Northeast, differences are still not respected. The political and pedagogic situation in the schools is terrible. There are teachers, staff in charge of preparing meals and snacks for the students, and drivers who have not received their salaries in the last seven months,” she said. According to Edilene, there are 180 indigenous schools with 8,000 students from 10 peoples in Pernambuco. “All of them should be renovated and expanded. The school of the Truká people has four classes, 90 students, and only one classroom,” she says. 

 

Agnado Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe also mentioned pedagogic problems: “No continued training is offered to the teachers and the specific material produced by the schools and communities is not reproduced.”

 

According to Armênio Schimdt, from the ministry of Education, there are 4,000 indigenous teachers ready to study in universities. University education for indigenous teachers is necessary for expanding secondary education possibilities in indigenous villages.

 

Regarding higher education, Agnaldo Pataxó said that the inclusion of indigenous people in the scholarship program developed by the Federal Administration (University for All Program – Prouni) with the aim of enabling low-income students to attend private universities would be an emergency solution. “Specific education mechanisms should be formally provided to indigenous people, so that the interests of indigenous communities may be duly met,” he said. “When individuals in general get a college degree in engineering, they don’t go to our villages to work. We need agronomists, geographers, nurses specifically educated to meet the needs of our communities.”

 

Brasília, 16 December 2004

 

The World Around Us Newsletter will continue to be published from the first week of January 2005.