Indigenous rights in Brazil have been at stake for decades: land invasions, increasing violence and congressional bills against territorial rights enshrined by the 1988 Federal Constitution. But now the latest threat has come from the Supreme Court through a draft bill to open up Indigenous territories to mining and other economic activities, an “unprecedented” move in Brazil’s history by an institution that’s entitled to protect the rights of minorities — and the Constitution, Indigenous rights’ advocates said. “There is no similar precedent in the Supreme Court’s history,” said Maurício Guetta, deputy coordinator for policy and law at the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), a nonprofit that advocates for Indigenous and environmental rights. “It’s not up to the Supreme Court to initiate bills on a subject like this.” As set by the Federal Constitution, “the Supreme Federal Court [STF] is primarily responsible for guarding the Constitution,” including judging laws that violate it. Presented in February by Justice Gilmar Mendes, the draft bill violates Indigenous people’s constitutional rights by stripping their veto power against impactful activities in their ancestral lands, such as mining operations, hydroelectric power plants, and the construction of roads as well as adding further obstacles to an already long land demarcation process, advocates said. Aiming to change article 231 of the Constitution, the draft bill “brings together the main threats to Indigenous peoples,” said Luis Ventura, executive secretary of the Missionary Council for Indigenous Peoples, an advocacy group affiliated with the Catholic Church. The draft bill allows any citizen to access…This article was originally published on Mongabay
The post ‘Unprecedented’ Supreme Court bill threatens Indigenous rights in Brazil first appeared on EnviroLink Network.