Brazil's "genocide decree." (Pres. Fernando Henrique Cardoso's Decree 1775 which allows non-indigenous claims against many indigenous areas) (Environmental Intelligence)

• Author: O'Meara, Molly

Violent incursions into areas claimed by Brazil's indigenous peoples have reached a new high, according to the Indianist Missionary Council (CIMI), a human rights monitoring group made up of Catholic missionaries. In a June 5 report, CIMI cited attacks in the states of Roraima, Amazonas, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Para as evidence for an upward trend in the violence against indigenous people. CIMI says the violence was fomented by Decree 1775, an executive order issued in January by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The order, which allowed for non-indigenous claims against many indigenous areas, was dubbed the "genocide decree" by indigenous leaders because they believe it undermined the land rights essential for the survival of their cultures.

Most of Brazil's indigenous areas lie within tracts of largely intact rainforest, which contain valuable timber and minerals. Indigenous claims amount to 94 million hectares (232 million acres) - about 17.5 percent of the Brazilian Amazon, or 11 percent of the country's territory as a whole. The government had agreed that by 1993, all indigenous land would be formally "registered" - the final step in a lengthy process known as demarcation, through which the claims are validated. But by the beginning of this year, only about 45 million hectares had been officially recognized as indigenous. Decree 1775 allowed state governments and businesses to contest the jurisdiction of the remaining 49 million hectares. By the decree's April 8 filing deadline, over 530 parties had challenges pending with the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI).

The decree's author, Justice Minister Nelson Jobim, argued that the measure was actually working in favor of indigenous peoples. According to Jobim, Brazil's previous demarcation policy, which dates from 1991, was flawed because it did not give competing interests the "right to contest" - a right guaranteed by the country's constitution. By permitting new challenges, he said, the decree protected indigenous areas from being declared unconstitutional.

But many of Brazil's legal experts, including a former Attorney General, find that argument specious. Jobim's critics say that legal channels for contesting boundaries have always existed, and they point out that in 1993, the country's Supreme Court rejected the premise that the previous demarcation policy was unconstitutional. Jobim's opponents have filed two lawsuits alleging that Decree 1775 is itself illegal because it...