The deputy attorney general of the 6th Coordination and Review Chamber (indigenous people and minorities), Deborah Duprat, gave this statement during a public hearing held on Tuesday (March 25) by the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee (CPI) on malnutrition among indigenous children. She stressed that malnutrition of indigenous children is a consequence of the inappropriate procedures adopted for demarcating lands for these populations.

 

She explained that, until 1988, Brazil´s constitutional regime imposed on indigenous people the requirement to be progressively integrated into the national community. Because of this concept, indigenous lands were seen as transitory spaces where indigenous peoples would live until they could be integrated into society. “These lands were never seen as spaces for the survival of indigenous people,” she stressed.

 

The Dourados village (state of Mato Grosso do Sul) provides a good example of this situation because, according to the reports that led to the CPI, children were dying from malnutrition there. According to Deborah Duprat, if the occupied territory were divided by the indigenous population, less than 1/4 of the rural module would be available to each individual. “The area is too small for them to reproduce, leading to problems such as malnutrition and other diseases,” she highlighted.

 

New concepts

When Deborah Duprat was questioned by Representative Ilderlei Cordeiro (Socialist People’s Party -state of Acre) on difficulties for completing the demarcation of indigenous lands, she regreted that the court system is still basing its actions on private property concepts for demarcating indigenous lands, as it should be taking into account a large enough space to ensure the traditional lifestyle of indigenous peoples. “Besides, there are international agreements such as ILO’s [International Labour Organisation] convention 69 that leave no doubt about the matter,” she added.

 Visit to the municipality of Dourados

Today (March 27), members of the CPI will travel to the municipality of Dourados in order to collect more information on the living conditions of indigenous children who live there. They will visit the Guardianship Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, the Local Center of the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai), the Caiuá Mission, the District Indigenous Health Council and the City Council.

 

based on information provided by Câmara news agency

 

  

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Court order suspends prohibition of fishing ritual of the Enawenê-Nawê people in the Preto River in the state of Mato Grosso

Fagundes de Deus, judge of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st region, suspended a court order issued by judge Jeferson Scheneider of the 2nd Federal Court of the Judiciary Section of Mato Grosso which prevented indigenous people of the Enawenê-Nawê people from carrying out their fishing ritual in the Preto river, in the region of Juína, state of Mato Grosso.

     

The area in question, claimed by the indigenous people as their traditional fishing territory, was excluded from the land area that was demarcated in 1996. In recent years the Enawenê people had been fishing there without major problems. They interrupted the flow of the river with a dam, fished and then allowed it to flow again. However, after a Funai’s Working Group (WG) in charge of reviewing the Enawenê area was set up, tension between indigenous people and farmers in the region increased.

 

The farmers had been granted a court order which prohibited indigenous people from carrying out their fishing ritual in the region. Even before this court order was suspended, the Enawenê people had already been carrying out their fishing ritual in the Preto River. They consider the fishing ritual – known as yankwa – as an obligation to the Yakariti spirits and, if they do not carry it out, their people can be infected with diseases and even die.

 

On March 6, there were moments of tension in the region where the Enawenê people were. They were surprised by Civil Police officers and by the owner of the area. According to their reports, they arrived at the camp, where there were only children, brandishing guns, causing fear and confusion and drawing the attention of adults who were working in the fishing dam.

     

The Enawenê-Nawê are a people that were only contacted recently. Their population amounted to 97 individuals when they were contacted, in 1974. Today, their population is about 430.

 

Brasília, March 27 , 2008.

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council

www.cimi.org.br