Inter-American Commission urges Lula to 'reverse the humanitarian crisis' of the Yanomami

In a statement, the IACHR and Special Rapporteur for Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (Redesca) they ask the Brazilian State to “guarantee the survival of this population”.

The reservation Yanomami, located on the border with Venezuela, is the largest indigenous land in Brazil, with 96 thousand km², where around 30 thousand members of this ethnic group live.

In four years, children and elderly people died “due to causes related to malnutrition and lack of medical care, preventable and treatable diseases”, of which 99 girls and boys died in 2022, during the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro, the which represents a 29% increase compared to previous years, they added.

“Hunger and serious food insecurity suffered by the people Yanomami are directly related to ethnic-racial discrimination which, in turn, allows the invasion of miners, estimated at 20 thousand people, occupying indigenous territory”, condemned both organizations.

The Brazilian government, which estimates the invaders at 15, announced on Monday that it has begun mobilizing more than 500 police and soldiers on the ground to expel the miners.

Illegal mining increased sharply during the term of Bolsonaro (2019-2022), a supporter of opening indigenous lands to this activity.

According to the IACHR, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), and Redesca, women and girls are exposed to a greater risk. The entities give the example of a 12-year-old girl who was raped in 2022 in the community of Aracaçá “with no news on the progress of the investigation to date”.

Despite multiple complaints from the people Yanomami, in the last two years the authorities “ignored the situation of violence, attacks and murders” against them, they said. This “omission”, they recall, led to the opening of an investigation by the Federal Police to investigate a possible crime of genocide.

The two organizations asked the Lula government to “protect the rights to life, personal integrity, health, food, water and the environment, as well as land” and natural resources of this population. They also demanded that the crimes be investigated and that justice and “reparation with an intercultural approach” be guaranteed.

(To AFP)

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