AMERICA/BRAZIL - CIMI Report on violence against indigenous peoples: 137 murders and 58% are landless

Brasilia (Agenzia Fides) - In a-172-page report, the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) of Brazil, linked to the Episcopal Conference of Brazil (CNBB), released figures for 2015 on "Violence against indigenous peoples in Brazil", which is the title of the report.
Data show that in 2015 nothing had changed regarding the constant invasion and devastation of the demarcated lands. The report highlights the increase in attacks against the Guarani and Kaiowá communities, in Mato Grosso do Sul. The President of CIMI, Archbishop of Porto Velho, His Exc. Mgr. Roque Paloschi, in the presentation of the report, says: "The same criminal practices are repeated and intensify without measures being adopted. Until when will we have to present these reports?".
Fides reports some data of the document. The report notes that little has been done to regularize the status of indigenous lands. According to the Federal Constitution, all the traditional indigenous lands should have been demarcated already in 1993, five years after the promulgation of the Constitution. However, the recent survey conducted by CIMI showed that by August 31 of this year, more than 654 indigenous territories in Brazil - more than 58.7% percent of indigenous lands nationwide - were still waiting to have their demarcation processes finalized.
With regard to violence, according to official data of the Special Secretariat of Indigenous Health (SESAI) and the indigenous health district of Mato Grosso do Sul (DSEI-MS)137 indigenous were killed in 2015, 36 of them registered by DSEI-MS.
Of the 87 suicide cases across the country, 45 occurred in Mato Grosso do Sul, particularly among the Guarani and Kaiowá. Between 2000 and 2015, 752 cases of suicide were registered in this state alone. A recent study conducted by the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) and the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) on Guarani and Kaiowá ethnic groups, says that these young Indians are traumatized by what their parents tell them: stories of exploitation, violence, death and loss of human dignity.
The report also considers the partial data of indigenous infant mortality: the three leading causes of death were pneumonia (8.2%), diarrhea and gastroenteritis (7%). (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 21/09/2016)

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