Organizations make an Urgent Appeal to the UN in favor of Indigenous lands in Brazil

The Arns Commission, together with the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, the Socio-environmental Institute, and Conectas Human Rights, signed the Urgent Appeal sent today (July 7) to the United Nations, requesting that urgent measures be taken by the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate regarding Draft Bill 490, which provides new rules for the demarcation of Indigenous lands in Brazil.

The organizations have pointed out that, if approved, the draft bill threatens and makes the demarcation of Indigenous lands and ratified territories unfeasible, as well as destroys the constitutional rights of Indigenous peoples in Brazil.

“The attempt to remove rights from the most vulnerable amidst the pandemic, which, by the way, have been repeatedly safeguarded by the Federal Supreme Court, is very serious. The proposal will resound as a “silencing tool” against international agreements and investments that Brazil intends to obtain at a time of economic crisis," says the document, which was also sent to special rapporteurships of the IACHR (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights).