Guarani and Kaiowá leaders call on EU and UN to support their struggle
Leaders from the Guarani and Kaiowá Indigenous Peoples in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil begin a trip across Europe this week to draw attention to the structural human rights violations faced by their Peoples. They will call on European policy makers and UN human rights bodies to adopt measures in support of their struggle. They are accompanied by FIAN Brazil, FIAN International and the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI).
In Brazil, 62% of existing indigenous lands and territorial claims are pending administrative regularization or demarcation. The resulting tenure insecurity is at the heart of multiple human rights violations and a brutal land conflict which has seen 795 indigenous people murdered and 535 cases of suicide within the past four years. The Guarani and Kaiowá Peoples of Mato Grosso do Sul are among the main victims.
Human rights violations and abuses, socio-territorial conflicts and insecurities against the Guarani and Kaiowá (GK) are largely driven by incursions into their traditional territories by agro-industrial corporations, landowners, luxury condominiums, illegal prisons and the expansion of infrastructure megaprojects to transport commodities. Conflicts have occurred between armed militias formed by farmers and their rural unions and paramilitary actions and military operations by state security forces lacking judicial authorization.
Exploitation of natural resources
Widespread violations of the Guarani and Kaiowá’s right to adequate food and nutrition have their origin in historical and ongoing dispossession of their ancestral lands. This predatory exploitation of their natural resources has resulted in water, land and air contamination by pesticides and the denial of practically all their human rights. From the difficulty of accessing documentation and public services, to the psychological and physical violence resulting from generalised racism, to the dependence on irregularly delivered food baskets, all these violations culminate in alarming rates of food insecurity and hunger. The already dire situation worsened considerably during the Bolsonaro regime which saw a systematic dismantling of social policies, programmes, and structures, and the promotion of anti-indigenous policies and sentiments.
In a recent study by FIAN Brasil and the University of Grande Dourados, carried out in five Guarani and Kaiowa communities, it was found that 77% of households live with some level of food insecurity, while 33.6% of households have insufficient food to feed their families.
During the advocacy tour, the indigenous leaders will meet members of the European Parliament, the European Commission’s External Action Service, as well as representatives of human rights bodies and diplomatic missions in Geneva. They will also be participating in the 54th Human Rights Council session and the examination of Brazil by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. FIAN Brazil together with other civil society organizations has submitted a report on the situation of ESC rights in the country.
‘We are being murdered’
“We came to Europe to demand the demarcation of our lands, the recognition of traditional lands, the homologation of lands… to give a voice to youth, women, elders. To clamor for the world to know how we live … how we are being murdered, how we are being violated, massacred… by the very powers of the Brazilian state…,” said Inaye Gomes Lopes, a counselor in the municipality of Antônio João, in Mato Grosso do Sul and one of the representatives advocating in Europe this week.
“I hope that the UN/European Union officials will notify the Brazilian authorities so that they implement our territorial rights, which are stipulated in the Brazilian Constitution, and denounce how our rights are being violated, continue to be violated, and (how we) are being massacred…”
Their central demands also include effective protection of Indigenous Peoples from violent attacks in the context of reoccupations of their ancestral lands, the completion of the demarcation processes, and rejection of the “temporal framework” thesis and Bill 2.903/23.
Moreover, European policy makers and legislators are urged to ensure that existing and currently negotiated trade deals, as well as investments and actions by the companies based in or with ties to EU and its member states, do not further fuel the land conflict or otherwise contribute to violations of the rights of the GK people. The banning of exports of harmful agrotoxics, prohibited in the EU, to Brazil and other countries is another key demand.
FIAN Brazil and FIAN International have been accompanying the Guarani and Kaiowa since 2005. Together with Aty Guasu, CIMI, and Justicia Global they have a petition pending at the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights.
For more information or media interviews please contact Amanda Cordova Gonzales cordova-gonzales@fian.org
Photo Credits: Ruy Sposati/CIM
