Number 412, August 9, 2000.
Visit our home page: http://www.oneworld.org/sejup/
In this week's issue:
>NEWS BRIEFS
- Tourists released in Para
- OAS Rights Commission to investigate murder of landless worker
- Ten Thousand Landless Workers Gather in Brasilia for the MST National Congress
- Court denies Monsanto authority to plant transgenic soybeans
>ISSUES
NEWS BRIEFS
- Tourists released in Para
Last week, Sejup reported on a story in which a group of indigenous, the Caiapos, took 17 Brazilian tourists hostage after the tourists were caught fishing on the Caiapos reserve (see News from Brazil, No. 411 on our website: http://www.oneworld.org/sejup/). Last Friday the Caiapos released the hostages after receiving a document signed by Minister of Justice, Jose Gregori, that promises that the government will officially demarcate the Caiapos land as an official indigenous reserve. The land in question involves over 650 thousand hectares, some of which is currently occupied by ranchers. However, the document does not mean the end of the struggle for this land as the mayor of the nearest town said that he intends to challenge the document in the courts. Also, Dinarte Nobre de Madeiro, the vice-president of Funai (Bureau of Indian Affairs), said that Funai does not have the necessary funding for the demarcation.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
August 5, 2000
- OAS Rights Commission to investigate murder of landless worker
On August 2, the Center for Global Justice, the Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST), the Pastoral Land Commission, the National Autonomous Network of Grassroots Lawyers, the International Human Rights Law Group received confirmation that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS) opened for further investigation the petition filed by the rights groups on June 30 of this year. The decision marks the beginning of a formal procedure in which the Brazilian government will be forced to respond internationally for the 1998 murder and may lead to the condemnation of Brazil by the OAS. The case against Brazil, proceeding No. 12.310 in the Commission, denounces the 1998 murder of Sebastião Camargo Filho in the municipality of Marilena in northwestern Paraná state, located in southern Brazil. On the morning of February 7, 1998, a group of heavily armed hooded men entered the Boa Sorte fazenda, or estate, to force squatters off the area they had been occupying. Evidence establishes that Teissim Tina, Nelson Toshiya Konda and Marcos Prochet, local landowners, ordered the violent action . At one point during the operation, according to witnesses, Prochet, an influential local landowner, placed a shotgun to the back of Camargo’s head and fired, killing him instantly. Camargo, 65, had back problems which caused him to delay in responding to the gunmen’s orders that he lie on the ground with the other squatters. This delay apparently prompted Prochet to kill Camargo. The petitioners in the case charge that local authorities have failed to investigate the case and the detain the murderer and his accomplices despite clear evidence as to their responsibility for the crime. The murder of Sebastião Camargo comes in the context of extreme violence practiced by state agents and hired gunmen against rural laborers in Paraná state. Research by the Pastoral Land Commission demonstrates that official aggressions against the landless in Paraná state in 1999 surpassed that in all other states in Brazil: police arrested 173 workers—nearly always arbitrarily—and forcibly evicted settlers in thirty-five communities. In addition, in Paraná last year, six laborers were tortured, more than fifty injured, twenty received death threats and two were murdered. Impunity is the rule in these and other abuses against landless: in the fifteen homicides of landless laborers in Paraná since 1997, no one has been successfully prosecuted.
- Ten Thousand Landless Workers Gather in Brasilia for the MST National Congress
The Landless Workers Movement's (MST) fourth National Congress will happen in Brasilia, where landless workers from all over the country will gather. From August 7-11, ten thousand landless workers will set up a camp around the Nilson Nelson Stadium, where several conferences and cultural activities will take place. This is the largest farm workers gathering in Brazil's history. The main goals of the Congress are: first, it's an opportunity for MST activists to look back at their work in the last five years, which is the period between each national congress and to determine their future priorities. This year the MST decided to focus on denouncing Brazil's land concentration, adopting the slogan "Por Um Brazil Sem Latifúndio", which means "for a country without land concentration". The MST is the largest social movement in Latin America and one of the largest farm workers movements in the world. They started to organize 16 years ago, as a result of the high levels of land concentration in the country.
Still today, Brazil is one of the few countries in the world that has never implemented a broad agrarian reform. According with the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), one percent of the population controls 46% of all agricultural land, and more than half of it is idle. The Brazilian Constitution determines that land which does not fulfill its "social function," which mean that it's not producing food, should be used for agrarian reform. Based on this legislation, the MST has been able to guarantee land titles to 250.000 families, or one and a half million people. This week, some Congress members will introduce legislation to establish a limit for the size of rural properties in the country. The MST National Congress will give visibility to this highly controversial proposal, as well as the serious social and economic crisis in Brazil's countryside.
Source: Friends of the MST
August 7, 2000
- Court denies Monsanto authority to plant transgenic soybeans
This week, the Regional Federal Court of Brasilia ruled against Monsanto, a North American agricultural company which has been requesting approval for use of its transgenic soybean seed here in Brazil. (For more details, see News from Brazil, No. 411, at our website: http://www.oneworld.org/sejup/) The court decided that the government needs to create bio-security norms and labeling laws for transgenic food before such crops can be produced. However, Monsanto is prepared to take its request to a high court. "We have already done many studies to meet the demands of the regulating agencies. If the justice system wants us [to do more studies] we will do them. Our objective is to plant Roundup Ready in Brazil, as we are already doing in the U.S. and Argentina," said Monsanto spokesperson, Belmiro Ribeiro Silva Neto. Brazil is one of the few remaining countries which does not plant transgenic soybeans. If it begins planting such seed, it will lose out on a huge market for non-transgenic soy in Europe.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
August 9, 2000
INDIGENOUS ISSUES
GUARANI COMMUNITY MAY BE EVICTED FROM REOCCUPIED LAND AREA
Businessman Carlos Francisco Zimmer won a preliminary order for repossession of the Araça’í indigenous area, occupied by the Guarani early this month. In his decision, federal judge Roberto Fernandes Junior, of Chapecó, determined that Funai has a deadline of 45 days to remove the indigenous community from the area and set up a Technical Group to begin studies to identify and delimit the area in question immediately. If the Guarani fail to leave the area within this deadline, they will be removed by the police. In the Action for Repossession he filed, the businessman accused Cimi of inciting the Guarani against the legal order and claimed that there has never been "any indigenous village" in the region in question. He relies on the support of the mayor of the municipality of Saudades, Arno Schwendler, who opposes the reoccupation of the area by the indigenous community.
On July 21, during a meeting attended by diocesan bishop d. Manoel João Francisco, by the local parish priest, and by representatives of the Federal Police, Funai, Cimi, of the mayor of Cunha Porã, and of the population of the two municipalities, Arno Schwendler suggested that other organizations were behind the reoccupation to discredit the indigenous action. When priest José spoke in support of the rights of the Guarani, part of the community left the meeting after being incited by the mayor of Saudades to show hostile feelings.
The Araça’í indigenous area was reoccupied on July 10. About 200 Guarani occupied 49 hectares of the area, where a sawmill owned by Carlos Francisco Zimmer was illegally set up. The land was bought by the company Colonizadora Sul Brasil. In the 1920s, the state of Santa Catarina donated large land areas for companies to colonize the region. Many of these lands were inhabited by indigenous people, who ended up being violently expelled from them and were forced to live in other villages. However, as they became aware of their rights, they decided to reoccupy the area. The historical presence of the Guarani in the region has been confirmed by historical documents and by the presence of at least two indigenous cemeteries inside the disputed area. The Guarani of the Araça’í area are being supported by other Guarani villages and by the Kaingang of the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.
Source: Cimi
July 27, 2000
URGENT ACTION
- World Bank breaks promis to Awa Indians
from Survival International
August 7, 2000
Brazil has violated its own constitution and the World Bank has flouted its Operational Directive by failing to demarcate Awá Indian territory - although funds were made available 18 years ago to do so. This has lead to the deaths of unknown numbers of uncontacted Awá and the destruction of their land. The demarcation has been blocked largely by businessmen and politicians who have large landholdings on Awá land.
Survival has just learned that the money for the Awá demarcation expired on the 30th June 2000, eighteen years after it was given to Brazil as part of a World Bank loan for the development of the Carajás mining project. A condition of this loan was that all Indian territories should be demarcated by the Brazilian authorities. However, the Awá area still has not been demarcated and this hunter gatherer tribe are facing increasing invasion of their land by settlers, ranchers and loggers, making them acutely vulnerable to disease and violence.
Despite having failed to ensure that the Brazilian authorities and mining company CVRD adhered to the conditions of the Carajás Project loan and agreement, the World Bank is preparing to make further loans to the area.
The Awá people are one of the few nomadic hunter gatherer peoples in Brazil. In 1950 their population was estimated at 800. Today they number less than 400, of whom about 150 are uncontacted. Living in mobile groups within the Amazon forest, they hunt game such as tapir and monkeys and gather fruit and nuts. Most of the Awá who have been contacted and live in villages are the survivors of brutal massacres. Attacks on groups of nomadic Awá are common and these survivors relate how Awá have been killed at gunpoint or deliberately poisoned by ranchers and loggers.
The World Bank's Operational Directive on indigenous peoples (para. 15c) clearly states that recognition of indigenous peoples' land tenure or ownership rights is a fundamental prerequisite in any project implementation where indigenous peoples are involved. The World Bank is currently revising its Indigenous Peoples Policy. Worryingly, a leaked copy suggests that the new policy will be substantially weaker.
Survival's director general, Stephen Corry, said, 'It is scandalous that today, as Brazil celebrates the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese, the Awá continue to be decimated by the same abuses they have faced for five centuries. In our opinion, if action is not taken urgently, the Awá's survival as a people is in doubt."
The Brazilian government, CVRD and the World Bank are guilty of violating both the Brazilian constitution and the World Bank's operational directive on indigenous peoples by ignoring the Awá's land rights. Survival is calling for the immediate recognition and protection of their land which is the only hope for the survival of Brazil's last nomadic people.
By spending a few minutes writing to the addresses in this bulletin you are taking really effective action to help the Awá.
Please write a brief and polite letter/fax (in English, Portuguese or your own language) and send it to:
Presidente F. H. Cardoso,
Presidente da República,
Palácio do Planalto,
Praça dos Três Poderes,
70150-900,
Brasília DF,
Brazil
Fax: +55 61 411 2222/ 411 2243/ 226 7566/ 322 2314
email: pr@planalto.gov.br
or presidencia@planalto.gov.br
Sr. Jorio Dauster,
Presidente,
CVRD,
Av Graça Aranha 26-14 andar,
20.005,
Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Brazil
James D. Wolfensohn,
President,
The World Bank,
1818 H Street NW,
Washington,
DC 20433,
USA
Fax:+1 202 522 3031
Sra. Roseana Sarney,
Governadora,
Palácio dos Leões,
Av Pedro II,
Centro,
65000
São Luis, MA,
Brazil
Fax: +55 98 222 5319
Make the following points:
It is scandalous that the Awá, the most isolated and threatened Indians in Maranhão, have suffered killings and invasion of their land due to the failure
of the government, World Bank and CVRD to demarcate their land.
The Brazilian government must uphold its own constitution by demarcating the Awá area and guaranteeing its protection. It is essential that the whole area of 247,000 hectares is demarcated so that it is contiguous with the Indian territories to the north and south.
Funds exist to carry out the demarcation. It must be done immediately before more uncontacted Awá are killed.
For more information or to arrange an interview contact Iona Singleton on (020) 7242 1441 or email: is@survival-international.org
Survival's extensive picture library contains photos of the Awá and of many other tribal peoples. Survival also has footage of the Awá on Mini DV taken earlier this year.
Survival is a worldwide organisation supporting tribal peoples. It stands for their right to decide their own future and helps them protect their lives, lands and human rights.
Survival's website can be found at: http://www.survival-international.org
The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is
cited.
The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited. If you wish to contact us, send a message to braziljusticenet@braziljusticenet.org. If you wish to be removed from our email list, go to http://braziljusticenet.org/subscribe.htm, type in your email address, and click "unsubscribe" button.