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Public manifesto against PEC 215 signed by 70 entities and delivered to Brazilian Congress

By Maqueli Quadros

Indigenous Peoples, parliamentarians, organizations and social movements participated in a June 11 ceremony to launch a manifesto in opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment known as PEC 215, in the House of Representatives. Signed by 70 entities, the document was delivered to representatives who are members of the Parliamentary Fronts in Support of Indigenous Peoples, in Defense of Human and Environmentalist Rights.

Representative Erika Kokay (PT-DF) read the document and stressed that this is an action to guarantee the defense of indigenous rights. Fighting PEC 215 is, for Kokay, “to defend our Brazilianness and our communities. It will not pass,” she emphasized. According to the document, “PEC 215 and its appended action are intended to paralyze the demarcation of indigenous lands, the titration of Quilombola Territories and the creation of Units of Conservation, as well as to permit the approval of large-scale projects within these protected areas, such as: hydroelectric dams, mining, extensive agribusiness, the building of highways, waterways for industrial transport, ports and railways.”

Congresswoman Janete Maria Goés Capibaribe (PSB/AP) believes that the movement is gaining greater strength thanks to the mobilization of Indigenous Peoples and, for her, the continuity of this movement is what will guarantee the shelving of the PEC 215. Congressman Edmilson Rodrigues (PSOL / PA) said the manifesto will be worked into a document and presented in the Special Commission. For him “this manifesto is from the Brazilian people.”

He also recalled the speech by some members of the ruralista (agribusiness) caucus who believe the fight is for too much land for too few Indians. The data presented by him show that 37% of the lands are in the hands of agribusiness, and of these, only 7% are productive lands. “The House will have to bend. The PEC will not pass,” he concluded.

Paulo Pimenta (PT-RS), Chairman of the Human Rights Commission, which recently traveled on a mission in Mato Grosso do Sul to become familiar with the reality of some Indigenous communities, cited in the recent decisions of the 2nd Session of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that raised the question of the ‘temporal marker’, generating legal uncertainty in all of the land demarcation proceedings. “We were in Mato Grosso do Sul (MS) and as soon as we left there were three attacks. Because of the PEC, these issues are being resuscitated,” he observed.

Representing the National Commission on Indigenist Policy (CNPI) and the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR), Pierlangela Wapichana thanked all of the signatories and declared: “This manifesto is proof that there are more people who are defending our cause. You are defending life; the lives of those who do not speak Portuguese and who have been having had their rights violated since 1500.”

In the opinion of Representative John Daniel (PT/SE) the PEC 215 represents the greed of capital against [the Brazilian] people. He took the opportunity to congratulate all Indigenous Peoples for the mobilization and recent achievements, such as engagement in the Senate which resulted in 48 signatures in opposition to PEC 215.

Hawaty Tuxá, from the Mãe village in Rodelas, in northern Bahia, representing the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples And Organizations Of the Northeast, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo – (APOINME) and the CNPI defined the act as a transformative hope with the ability to “touch” the National Congress so that it attends to the atrocity that is about to be committed in this House. At the same time, he believes that this moment also represents a call to Brazilian society that, in defending indigenous rights, they will be defending national sovereignty, our history and, by recognizing this, the importance of the indigenous peoples of Brazil.

This article was originally published in Portuguese at www.cimi.org.br. Translated to English for Intercontinental Cry. Translation by Meg Kidd.

(unofficial translation)

PUBLIC MANIFESTO AGAINST PEC 215/2000

Brasília (DF), June of 2015.

On May 19 of 2015, the House of Representatives, social organizations and movements, of the indigenous peoples, indigenous and environmental advocates, along with the Parliamentary Fronts for the Support of the Indigenous Peoples, in Defense of Human and Environmental Rights. the undersigned, brought to the Plenary session of the House “Threats to fundamental rights and PEC 215: democracy, indigenous peoples and the environment”. As a result of the Plenary, by common accord it was decided to publish the following motion of repudiation of the Proposal for a Constitutional Amendment (PEC) 215/2000, pending before the Brazilian House of Representatives (Câmara dos Deputados) currently in the Special Commission.

The PEC 215 and its appended actions are intended to paralyze the demarcation of Indigenous Lands, the titration of Quilombo Territories and the creation of Units of Conservation, as well as to permit the approval of large-scale enterprises within these protected areas, such as: hydroelectric dams, mining; extensive agribusiness, the building of highways, waterways for industrial transport, ports and railways.

If approved, the referred to PEC 215/2000 will result in irreversible consequences for the indigenous peoples and quilombola communities, considering that their territories are vital to their physical and cultural survival, in addition to contributing to the preservation of an ecologically balanced environment, in the context of global warming.

The PEC 215/2000 is declared to be unconstitutional, for injury to binding clauses related to the principle of the separation of powers and the consecration of fundamental rights of indigenous peoples, that as such are constitutional shields and supported in international standards.

In view of this and considering that:

  • the demarcation of the Indigenous Lands, the titling of the Quilombola Territories and the creation of Units of Conservation of Nature are acts typically administrative of a strictly technical character, intended to implement collective constitutional rights gained through a long and arduous journey of struggle and debates during the period of the Constituent Assembly in which numerous leaders of diverse segments of society departed from their homes and journeyed to Brasilia to discuss and guarantee their fundamental, political and social rights;
  • these collective constitutional rights are the result of the recognition embracing the indispensability of ecological balance for the welfare of society and of the need to allocate lands to the peoples and communities that they traditionally occupy, to both guarantee their physical and cultural survival and as reparation for the historical debt of Brazil toward the indigenous peoples, traditional Peoples and Communities;
  • the struggle of the Original Peoples is a struggle for the wellbeing of all of society, in defense of the plurality of the Brazilian collectivity and of the ecologically balanced environment;
  • the dislocation of the designation of competences in constitutional matters can only be done in order to expand rights and not to impose retrogressions;
  • the biodiversity, sustainability and environmental equilibrium cannot be subjected to the occasion of the interests of legislative majorities in the National Congress;
  • the Indigenous Peoples and Quilombola Communities of Brazil are subjects of law, citizens, and as such, They must be respected in their rights and in their physical, moral, cultural and historical integrity;
  • renowned jurists and the Minister himself of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Luis Roberto Barroso Rapporteur on the Writ of Security (Mandado de Segurança) No. 32262, has already warned as to the absolute unconstitutionality of PEC 215/2000;
  • it is urgent that the Brazilian government apply Convention 169 on the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries of the International Labor Organization (ILO), adopted in 1989 during its 76th Conference and ratified by Brazil in 2004, being the primary international treaty on rights of these populations which addresses free, prior and informed consultation, health, education, labor, usufruct of the land, among others;
  • it is fundamental that the Brazilian State fully implement the right of indigenous peoples to the difference and to the originary right to their lands and territories, as well as the recognition of the rights of other peoples and traditional communities.

The signatories listed below RESOLVE to manifest their total support in the struggle of the Indigenous Peoples, the Quilombola Communities and Brazilian Collectivity and demand the immediate withdrawal from legislative process the PEC 215/2000, the appended proposals and any other initiatives that serve to suppress or regress on the rights of indigenous peoples, of the quilombola communities and on the recognition of Units of Conservation.

Signed,

  • Citizens’ Action Against Hunger, Misery and For Life
  • Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil – Apib
  • Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Northeast, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo – Apoinme
  • Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of the Southeast – Arpinsudeste
  • Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of the South – Arpinsul
  • Brazilian Association of Anthropology – ABA
  • Association of Lawyers and Public Defenders for Democracy – APD
  • Bar Association of the AGU
  • Association of Indigenous Academics of the University of Brasilia
  • Association of Judges for Democracy – AJD
  • National Association of Labor Tribunal Magistrates – Anamatra
  • Networks House (Casa de Redes)
  • Central Workers Union – CUT
  • Academic Center of Political Science at the University of Brasilia
  • Centro de Trabalho Indigenista – CTI
  • Coalition Pró-SNUC
  • Youth Collective for the Environment of Brazil
  • Human Rights Commission of the Federal Senate
  • Commission for Human Rights and Minorities of the House of Representatives
  • Guarani Commission Yvyrupa
  • Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of São Paulo
  • National Conference of Bishops of Brazil – CNBB
  • Indigenist Missionary Council – Cimi
  • National Human Rights Council
  • National Council on Food and Nutrition Security – Consea
  • National Coordination of Quilombola Communities – Conaq
  • Federal District in Movement
  • Federation of Agronomy Students of Brazil
  • National Federation of Workers in Family Agriculture of the Federal District and Environs – Fetraf-DFE
  • Forum of Social Entities of São Sebastião
  • Public Policy Forum on Indigenous Sport and Leisure
  • Environmentalist Parliamentary Front
  • Parliamentary Front in Support of Indigenous Peoples
  • Parliamentary Front in Defense of Human Rights
  • Parliamentary Front in Defense of Traditional Peoples of African Origin
  • Joint Parliamentary Front for Food and Nutritional Security
  • Joint Parliamentary Front For Rural Education – FPMEDOC
  • Foundation SOS Atlantic Forest
  • Great Assembly of the Guarani People – Aty Guasu
  • Greenpeace
  • Institute of Environmental Research of the Amazon (IPAM),
  • International Institute of Education in Brazil
  • Institute Nzinga Mbandi
  • Instituto Socioambiental – ISA
  • Media Ninja
  • Mobilization of Indigenous Peoples of the Cerrado – Mopic
  • Afrodescendant Movement of Brasília – Madeb
  • Movement in Support of Indigenous Peoples
  • Movement Supernova
  • Movement Torture Never Again
  • Agrarian Center of the House of Representatives
  • Climate Observatory
  • NGO Alternative Blue Earth
  • Bar Association of Brazil – OAB
  • Indigenous Organization of the Mid and Lower Perus
  • Cerrado Network
  • National Network of Lawyers and Public defenders Renap
  • Secretariat of Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic
  • Secretariat of Policies of Promotion of Racial Equality of the Presidency of the Republic-SEPPIR/PR
  • Secretariat of Policies on Women of the Presidency of the Republic
  • Via Campesina
  • WWF-Brasil