e Paz)

Number 172, March 30, 1995.

CHILDREN'S ISSUES

- 7.5 million children and adolescents exploited in rural Brazil.

Approximately 3 million children between 10 and 14 years work in rural Brazil for an extremely low salary. If the number of youth in the 14 to 17 age group is added, 7.5 million children and youth work in such circumstances. Most work in the sugar-cane and orange crops or in the production of charcoal and leave school when they begin working.

Thus 11% of the total population or 40% of the working population of Brazil are children exploited in their work situation according to denouncements made at a recent seminar in the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro. And this exploitation is not only characteristic of the poorer northeastern states but also is a feature in richer states such as Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Parana.

The Tabatinga region in the State of Sao Paulo is an example. There 15% of the 70 thousand fruit pickers are under 14 years of age. A rancher there commenting on the work of such children remarked "They are lighter and can climb higher without breaking the branches". In the State of Pernambuco, 25% of the 280 thousand sugar cane cutters are under 18 years. Here many start working between 7 and 12 years and 43% are not paid. In the State of Mato Grosso do Sul 5 thousand children and adolescents work in the production of charcoal spending long hours in the unhealthy furnaces. In 1994, the Confederation of Agricultural Workers denounced that two thousand of this group worked in slave conditions.

Of the 85 thousand cases of slave work registered in the last 20 years in Brazil, 40 thousand were children and adolescents. Of the children and adolescents who work, 42.1% have not completed their primary education; 59.3% work more than 40 hours per week and only 325 of those over 14 years of age are registered. Children under 14 are not allowed to work according to Brazilian law. Of all working children and adolescents, only 33% earn the minimum monthly salary (approximately US $85); 10% earn quarter of a minimum salary and 57% earn nothing because they work with their parents (in the piece-work offered in the sugar cane plantations for example to increase the daily quota of production. The quota on many ranches could not realistically be attained by the adult workers, so they bring along their children to increase the output).

"Child labor simply increases and greatly,the margins of greed of the employers and the only way to finish with this national shame is to radically demand that the law which prohibits it be effectively applied ..... conscientized people can no longer continue accepting that these children who have neither the time or strength to go to school may lose the most important part of human formation which is education. And what is worse, that through work they are robbed of their young years " commented Teresa Cristina who participated in the seminar. In fact the chief reason for having the seminar in a large city and in a university setting was to make public opinion more sensitive about how children and adolescents are being exploited in their work situations.

(Source: IPS)

LAND ISSUES

- Agrarian reform programs launched.

On March 25 both the government and the Citizenship Action Against Misery and in Favor of Life launched their campaigns of agrarian reform. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso presented families in the municipality of Sao Joao do Jaguaribe with documentation to the land distributed to them by the government. He also announced a series of disappropriations which will take place within the next few months making up approximately 1 million hectares. It is planned to settle 16700 families on this area. According to campaign promises, the Cardoso government plans to settle 40 thousand landless families during 1995. Most of the families to be settled in this first stage are from the north and north east of the country.

Also on March 25, the Citizenship Action also launched its agrarian reform campaign. Instead of using the title "agrarian reform" the campaign is using "land democracy". According to the campaign coordinator Herbert de Souza (Betinho) the choice of date "was not a coincidence, it was intentional. The government wants a land reform and we want land democracy. The citizenship campaign could give an impulse to the government campaign".

According to the Citizenship Campaign 25% of the population of Brazil still lives in rural areas; 50.7% of all who live in a state of misery in Brazil are rural dwellers; there are 4.8 million landless families in the country and 62.4% of those working on the land receive less than a minimum salary each month (approximately US $80).

- One rancher owns 1% of the entire area of Brazil.

According to a report in the "O Estado de Sao Paulo" on March 23 one rancher known as Carlos Medeiros, owns what amounts to 1% of the entire territory of Brazil or 8% of the State of Para. He owns approximately 9 million hectares. This would correspond to an area roughly twice the size of Israel plus two Switzerlands. He specializes in cattle ranching.

However, according to the report, the juridical department of the Land Institute of the State of Para suspects that Carlos Medeiros does not exist. The number of his identity card is false and government officials suspect that the name, Carlos Medeiros, is being used to give cover to land grabbers in the region. Para is the state where the most acute cases of land violence have taken place in recent years.

INDIGENOUS ISSUES

- Judge issues injunction on the construction of dam on indian land.

In recent numbers of NEWS FROM BRAZIL we carried reports on the proposed construction of a dam by the State of Roraima government in the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous area. The construction had been opposed by the local indian groups who suffered violence especially from the police. The good news is that the construction has been halted by a court injunction. We reproduce information on the injuction prepared by the International Rivers Network.

On March 17, a Federal Court issued a restraining order halting construction of a hydroelectric dam which would flood the land of the Macuxi and Ingarico Indians. The state government of Roraima had begun dam construction without permission from federal authorities, despite the fact that Brazil's constitution requires a special act of Congress to authorize any dams on Indian lands.

The Raposa Serra Do Sul Indigenous area has been the scene of violent actions by military police to expel Indians from the dam construction site. The Indian area is still not legalized, and the state authorities have exerted strong pressures to prevent the area's official demarcation.

The Judge's decision is considered a victory, not only for the Indians in their fight against the dam project, but also because it establishes an important legal precedent regarding the broader issue of construction of dams which impact Indian areas. Among the principles upheld by the Judge were that:

- the Brazilian Congress must authorize construction of dams in Indian areas, independent of whether or not the areas have achieved official, legal recognition;

- the environmental licensing of hydroelectric dams in Indian areas is within the jurisdiction of the Federal government and not the state governments, who are more subject to pressures from local development interests.

The Campaign against the Cotingo Dam will continue to promote energy alternatives for Roraima which do not require dams on Indian lands, will support the right of the Macuxi and Ingarico people to occupy lands in the area which would be flooded by the dam, and will press for the legal demarcation of the Raposa Serra do Sol Indian area.

The Campaign thanks everyone for their solidarity and support for Indigenous rights in Roraima.

For more information, contact:

Pro-Indian Commission of Sao Paulo

and Indigenous Council of Roraima:

Lucia Andrade +55-11-864-1180

or International Rivers Network

Berkeley, California

Glenn Switkes +415-243-4146

- Newsletter of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI).

-Commission of Indians demand demarcation

A commission made up of 23 Xucuru Kariri, Wassu Cocal, Geripanko, Kariri-Xoko, and Karapoto Indians from Alagoas and Xoko Indians from Sergipe came to Brasilia this week to have audiences at FUNAI (the government indigenous agency), the Office of the Attorney General and the Chamber of Deputies with the purpose of denouncing acts of violence against Indians and demanding measures to speed up the demarcation of their lands. Citing one of the most serious incidents, the Karapoto warned that at least 8 mysterious fires have destroyed crops, fences and grazing ground for cattle in their 1,810-hectare area, which has been the object of a litigation for two years.

The Xucuru-Kariri heard from Attorney Aurelio Dias, from the 6th Chamber for Minorities, the assurance that the Department of Justice is worried with reports of death threats. Senators Renan Calheiros (PMDB) and Teotonio Vilela Filho (PSDB), who were also contacted by the Xucuru, have pledged to contact the state and the Municipal City Hall of Palmeita dos Indios to placate inflamed feelings until the matter is settled. The Xucuru also had a personal contact with IBAMA (the government environmental agency) to denounce that in spite of having been formally charged, farmers continue to deforest parts of their area and sell the hardwood derived from this activity.

The Chairman of the Environment and Minorities Commission, deputy Jose Sarney Filho, the son of ex-president Jose Sarney, said that he sympathizes with the Indian cause and is worried with acts of violence which have been registered in the area. He assured the Indians that he will officially intervene with the government of the state, the Police Department, the Ministry of Justice and FUNAI to guarantee the security of the Indian people and pressure for a swift demarcation process, which has become a political issue. According to FUNAI, funds are available for the work of the commission and the last step of the process is the designation of the anthropologist who will coordinate the group. The Indians are on the alert and have warned that they accept the idea of redefining the bounds of their territory, but not its reduction.

- New invaders threaten the Alto Turiagu Village.

Because of the lack of inspection and the omission of the federal administration, more lumbermen have invaded the largest Indian Area in the state of Maranhao, called Alto Turiagu. The land, which was demarcated in 1982 consists of 530,524 hectares where about 1,200 Urubu-Kaapor, Guaja, Timbira and Tembe Indians live. The invaders are so bold that, relying on the connivance of the registery office of Carutapera, they threaten the Indians showing illegal documents to prove the ownership of the land. The last of these incidents was registered in January of this year.

Cimi Maranhao denounces that this is not the first time that the registery office issues documents of this nature, and for this reason the person responsible for the office, Juanuario Loureiro, has been arrested. The person who has illegally occupied the largest part of the area, Nicodemos Martins Marques, who is a fugitive from justice, is behind everything. The climate in the region is tense.

Brasilia, March 23, 1995

HUMAN RIGHTS

- Police killings up again in February.

In the March 03 edition of NEWS FROM BRAZIL we reported that the number of police killings in Sao Paulo had increased sharply. This was the first month of the new state government of Mario Covas. Police killings were also very high in February. In the two month period a total of 136 people have been killed by police. With a monthly average of 43.3 police killings during 1994, the recent figures show an increase of 57.04% in police killings during the first two months of this year.

On March 23 the president of the Lawyers Association (OAB) in Sao Paulo, Guido Antonio Andrade as well as the president of the human rights section of the organization, Jairo Fonseca, met with the Secretary of Security, Jose Afonso da Silva. "Our fear is that the killers in the military police are affirming themselves because of the lack of action of the secretary" commented Fonseca. He went on to comment that there is no justification for the increase in the number of people killed by the military police. There has been no significant increase of police on the streets, crimes have not increased and the number of police men killed in action did not increase significantly during the period in question.

According to the president of the OAB, a comparison between the number of people killed and wounded by the military police shows up an anomaly. "For every person killed there were 0.3 people injured. In wars there are on average seven people wounded for each person killed" he commented. He went on to point out that during the first two months of 1995, 50% of the people killed by police had two wounds in vital parts of their bodies. Such facts led the OAB to believe that many victims of the police during the period were in fact executed by them.

The Secretary for Public security, Jose Afonso da Silva commented that the orientation given to military police in this period was to arrest and not to fire on people suspected of crimes. He went on to say that all the police killings since the beginning of the year were being investigated.

The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited.