Brazil

Indigenous groups granted right to stay on Brazilian land reserves

Article published on the 2009-03-20 Latest update 2009-03-20 12:42 TU

Dozens of indigenous people from the Raposa-Serra do Sol reserve in Roraima gathered outside the Supreme Court in Brasilia as the judges gave their decision, 18 March 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that indigenous groups have rights to the vast Serra do Sol reserve in the north of the country, and that armed forces can evict non-indigenous farmers working the land. The decision, which upheld a 2005 decree creating the land reserve, paves the way hundreds for similar court cases.

"We hope that the Supreme Court will end the violence we’ve been suffering for years,” said Julio, part of the Macuzxi tribe, who was in Brasilia to hear the judges’ decision.

Some 19,000 members of the Macuxi, Wapichana, Ingariko, Taurepang and Patamona tribes have been fighting to keep rights to 17,000 square kilometres of ancestral forest land in Serra do Sol since the 1970s, when non-indigenous business interests started to exploit the land for industrial farming and mining.

The court’s ten-to-one decision allows Brazilian armed forces to forcibly evict white farmers who refuse to leave the territory. Rice farmers, who say that rice production makes up seven per cent of the region’s GDP, have been backed by authorities in Roraima state, where the reserve is located.

Before the court decision, some farmers had threatened to blow up bridges and sabotage roads if police moved in.

Brazil has set aside 12 per cent of its land for indigenous people, which according to the National Indian Foundation (Funai) number some 460,000, a small fraction of the country’s 190 million people.