Brazilian anti-indigenous policies (05.18.17)
Brazilian anti-indigenous policies
Joint petition condemning Brazilian anti- indigenous policies gathers over 1500 signatures, but Brazilian congress approves parliamentary inquiry criminalizing anthropologists and others involved in indigenous land demarcation
SALSA, together with Associação Brasileira de Antropolgia (ABA) and Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones (GITPA), recently circulated the Declaration in Protest of Brazilian anti-indigenous policies and Escalating Attacks on Indigenous rights. The petition gathered over 1500 signatures from anthropologists and other scholars and activists engaged with indigenous peoples’ rights around the world.
Signatures were gathered in time to forward the petition to the Brazilian government prior to a congressional vote on the results of a widely condemned parliamentary inquiry that would criminalize the work of anthropologists and other professionals involved in indigenous land demarcation. Despite vociferous international protests by the Brazilian anthropological association, SALSA and other professional organizations around the world, the Brazilian congress, with the strong support of the agribusiness lobby, voted to approve the results of the inquiry. Criminal charges could soon be filed against some 70 indigenous leaders, anthropologists, government agents and NGO workers for their involvement in the constitutionally enshrined process of land demarcation for indigenous peoples.
[Photo: Instituto Socioambiental]
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