Brazil: Merkel should take a stand for the persecuted and endangered Indians!

Shortly before Angela Markel’s departure to Brazil, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) sent an urgent appeal to the chancellor to use the first Brazilian-German intergovernmental consultations to take a stand for the persecuted and endangered Indians in the South American country. “The situation of the indigenous people in Brazil is desperate: If they try to resist the attempts to open up the last natural paradise, they have to fear an escalation of violence. In 2014 alone, 138 indigenous environmentalists were killed because they tried to defend their territory peacefully – twice as many as in 2012,” complained Yvonne Bangert, the STP’s expert on questions concerning indigenous peoples. “135 young people and children were unable to cope with their hopeless situation any longer and thus decided to commit suicide. Also, the high mortality rate among the children and the elderly is alarming. In 2014, there were 785 cases. The Xavante and the Yanomami, who are especially affected, had to mourn 116 or, respectively, 46 dead children.” Merkel is expected in Brazilia on Wednesday.

In the letter to Chancellor Merkel, the STP raises serious allegations against the Brazilian authorities. Although the indigenous communities are dependent on land of their own, the authorities are apparently delaying procedures to establish and secure reservations, stated the STP, citing a report issued by CIMI, the Missionary Council for Indigenous Peoples. In 2013, the organization documented that 118 claims concerning the indigenous peoples and their land were either delayed or not considered at all – twice as many as in the year before. “An important reason for the government’s delaying in this respect is to be seen in the plans to establish hydroelectric power stations or to use the land for monocultures of soy or sugarcane,” added Bangert.

Officially, there are 305 indigenous communities in Brazil. In addition, CIMI estimates that there are about 100 small ethnic groups living in voluntary seclusion. To keep up their sustainable way of life, they are dependent on a healthy environment and on enough land to ensure their existence by hunting, fishing, gathering and cultivation.

“We are sure that Chancellor Merkel will take our appeal seriously and thus use her influence on her Brazilian dialogue partners to ensure that Brazil’s indigenous communities will not be deprived of their livelihoods or run over by the economic development of their territory,” said Bangert.

Header Photo: Flickr/Blog do Planalto