Amnesty Slams Brazil for Treatment of Indian Peoples

Human rights organization Amnesty International has accused the Brazilian government of failing to guarantee the rights of Brazilian Indians to their lands, leaving them to live in poverty, and causing the hostilities that led to the massacre of 29 illegal diamond miners a year ago.

The Amnesty study entitled Foreigners in our own country: Indigenous Peoples in Brazil says that violence against Brazilian Indians has come from businesses and prospectors who mine in the Indians' territories as well as from ranchers, logging companies and military forces.

"Impunity for human rights violations in Brazil is pervasive and persistent," the Amnesty report noted. "In addition to the violence that is so often generated in the context of land disputes, Indians also suffer when there is a failure by the State to protect them from invaders on their land, as was the case in the Cinta Larga Roosevelt territory in 2004."

In a mining dispute last April, Cinta Larga Indians allegedly killed 29 illegal diamond miners.

Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry estimates that $2 billion worth of diamonds have been mined on the 2.7-million hectare Cinta Larga reserve.

In 1999, large deposits of diamonds were discovered in the Cinta Larga reserve and the following year illegal prospectors invaded in their search for diamonds.

Amnesty said indigenous communities across the country were suffering the consequences of severe economic and social deprivation.

"Land is key to the development of indigenous communities, by failing to protect this very basic right, the Brazilian authorities are placing their safety and their very survival at risk."

Amnesty ended its report by calling on the Brazilian authorities to set out clear policies and specific strategies for tackling the persistent human rights issues that affect Brazil’s indigenous population.

In addition, Brazil should fulfill its international and constitutional obligations by resolving all outstanding indigenous land claims, and investigate all cases of violent attacks and other human rights abuses against members of indigenous people and bring those responsible to justice.