Eviction takes place despite national and international efforts
National authorities proceed with the forced eviction of Guarani and Kaiowá Apyka´i community, violating the rights of indigenous peoples once again.
***Updates on the situation will be posted here
As feared, national authorities, strongly armored by the Federal Police, Federal Highway Police, and the state Military Police, carried out the forced eviction of the Guarani and Kaiowá community Apyka’i from their ancestral territory in Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, on July 6, 2016 in the morning. As it has already happened in 1990 and again in 1999, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2014, the Apyka’i face the violation of their human rights once more.
In the depths of wet and windy winter, nine families were displaced. These reported that trucks were made available for them to transport their belongings to another place they “preferred” to relocate. Yet, there is no other if not their ancestral territory.
As in previous occasions, the Guarani and Kaiowá of Apyka’i decided to remain in front of their rightful territory and went back to the roadside, where around 30 of its members is now subjected to the intense road traffic that has already killed many members of the community in the last years, including children.
The eviction was performed even under the request of suspending this legal process of repossession by agribusiness. This request was presented by FUNAI before the Supreme Federal Court (STF), on May 31, 2016, which is still awaiting trial. The eviction also takes place a week after the publication of a decree of FUNAI, on June 29, 2016, which established a Working Group (WG) responsible for the demarcation of the Apyka’i territory.
The eviction infringes upon article 231 of Brazil’s Constitution blatantly and implies a breach vis-a-vis the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and this situation requires immediate reaction of the UN authorities in order to demand the Brazilian state to comply with its human rights obligations.
FIAN International, in close cooperation with its Brazilian section and CIMI – is closely monitoring the situation on the ground and informing the pertinent UN Special Rapporteurs, namely on the right to food, on adequate housing, on the rights of indigenous peoples, and on extreme poverty, of the latest updates.
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