The indigenous people of Brazil are left unprotected after this Thursday Congress overturned the veto of a law that makes the recognition of their lands difficult. In a joint session of the two parliamentary chambers, a large majority of senators and deputies overthrew President Lula da Silva's veto of a law approved in September, and which is now expected to come into force next week.
The new law establishes that indigenous people must provide evidence that on October 5, 1988, the day the Brazilian Constitution was promulgated, they already occupied the lands they claim. Although some families have lived in these areas for several centuries, for many the requirements of the new legislation seem unattainable.
The 273 areas that according to FUNAI, the government body in charge of recognizing indigenous lands, are going through the process to acquire legal protection could be denied such recognition if they do not present the appropriate documentation. Also threatened are the 483 areas currently considered territory of indigenous possession and usufruct - they occupy 14% of the national area - which could lose their status if judicial proceedings are initiated against them.
The legal thesis, known as the “time frame,” which sets a deadline of 1988 for indigenous demarcation, was already declared unconstitutional by the Brazilian Supreme Court a week before the law was approved in September. Now the defenders of the law hope that the Supreme Court will withdraw, while its detractors hope that the decision will not pass the approval of the highest judicial body in the country. Some groups in defense of indigenous rights have announced that they will appeal to the Supreme Court, but there is concern about the damage that the law could cause before a decision is reached by the Supreme Court.
With this law, deforestation for mining or agricultural activities in Brazilian forests, which already threatens the homes and way of life of indigenous people, could increase. On the other hand, those who have supported the law maintain that the new legislation provides greater legal security so that the inhabitants of rural Brazil, especially workers in the agricultural sector, do not see their territories taken away by indigenous claims. "This framework provides legal security to the countryside, to those who produce," said deputy Joaquim Passarinho of the Liberal Party.
According to Survival International, a human rights organization, this law would be the "most serious and ruthless attack" against the rights of indigenous Brazilians in many decades, and in a statement it attributes its approval to the fact that Congress "remains strongly dominated by the ruralist caucus, associated with the interests of agribusiness and mining, and ally of the former president and far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro." The organization also pointed out the environmental consequences of the law, since “indigenous people are the best guardians of ecosystems like the Amazon,” said Caroline Pearce, director of Survival International, cited in the statement.
The decision of Congress calls into question the constitutional obligation of the State to recognize indigenous lands, which after having been suspended between 2019 and 2022, during the mandate of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, the Lula government that began on January 1, 2023 resumed with strength, even creating a new ministry to guarantee indigenous rights. Lula seems to have difficulty fulfilling his commitment.
