Today, 9 August, the 11th International Day of the World´s Indigenous People was commemorated with several activities and messages all around the world.

 

José Antonio Ocampo, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said in New York in his message that “the Second International Decade of the World´s Indigenous People poses a critical test: Can we move irreversibly from commitment to action to markedly improve the situation of the world´s indigenous peoples?”

 

After the ten years of the First Decade it is time to act, to really solve the still existing problems of the more than 370 million indigenous peoples in the world: violations against their individual and collective human rights, the expulsion of their ancestral territories, the threatening of their cultures and identities, the discrimination and the extreme and chronic poverty.

 

In Brazil there was also attention for this International Day of commemoration.

 

In Recife, the northeast of Brazil, 50 Indians of five different peoples (Pankará, Atikum, Xukuru, Truká and Kambiwá) were present at a public audience. Also some representatives of social movements, a councilman and two state deputies listened to the discussions about the growing violence against the Indians in the state of Pernambuco last year. Special attention was paid to the impunity of the aggressors who never are punished.

 

In Brasília, the capital of Brazil, indigenous peoples tried to be heard by governmental institutes. After a lot of political pressure there was a meeting of twenty leaders of the Javaé with the president of Funai, the governmental institution on indigenous issues. The Javaé are already waiting for two years, since 12 of August 2003, for a decision of the Ministry of Justice to get the process of demarcation of their land going on. There are conflicts going on with IBAMA, the governmental organization that is in charge of the environment, about who is having the rights on the land. The situation is even that bad that the Javaé have to drink polluted water.

 

The Guarani and Tupinikim of the state Espirito Santo were with eight delegated Indians in Brasilia to talk with Funai, the governmental institution on indigenous issues, about the demarcation of 11.009 hectares of indigenous land. This land has been invaded in the past by Aracruz, the world-wide largest manufacturer of bleached Eucalyptus-pulp, which is used to make paper and exported to all over the world.

 

And in Brussels, in Belgium, at the European Commission, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations & European Neighborhood Policy, send a message of support and solidarity to indigenous people across the globe. The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is a day for celebrating the cultural diversity and enormous contribution to humanity of the indigenous peoples of the world. “We believe that active cooperation with indigenous peoples is essential for poverty elimination, sustainable development, human rights and democracy. We respect their cultural identities and choices in shaping the social, economic and cultural development of their communities.”

 

Cimi, www.cimi.org.br

 

Cimi is a missionary organization that is working already more than 30 years with indigenous peoples in Brazil.

For further information contact: Geertje van der Pas, [email protected] Tel +55 61 21061650

 

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