violations of the rights of the guarani of mato grosso do sul state, brazil

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up, and taken to Sassoró. There, they werebeaten up again. Whilst the five mostseriously injured were taken to hospital, therest of the group remains on the side of theroad, with no food or water.The Guarani of Laranjeira Ñanderu areforced to camp by the side of a road.We list some of the killings of Guarani:In 1983, Marçal de Souza Tupa’i, renownedGuarani advocate of indigenous rights, wasshot dead at his home by gunmen reportedlylinked to a local rancher. Nobody wasconvicted for his murder.In 2001, the young Guarani Kaiowá SamuelMartin was killed by gunmen during thereoccupation of his community of Ka’a Jariin Coronel Sapucaia municipality.On 13 th January 2003, the internationallyrenowned Guarani Kaiowá leader, MarcosVerón, was beaten to death by gunmenworking for a local rancher, in front of familymembers after he led his community’sreoccupation to Takuara in Juti municipality.On 24 th December 2005, nine days afterthe eviction of Guarani from NanderuMarangatu, 39 year-old Guarani activistDorvalino Rocha was shot and killedby a private security guard employedby ranchers.Following the attempted reoccupation oftheir land by the community of Kurusu Mbain 2007, community leader Kuretê Lopeswas assassinated. Ortiz Lopes and OsvaldoLopes, also leaders of the community, wereassassinated on 8 th June 2007 and 30 thMay 2009 respectively. Nobody has beentried or convicted for these killings.The day after their return to their ancestralland of Ypo’i on 29 th October 2009, a groupof Guarani was attacked by gunmen. Tendays later the body of Genivaldo Verá, amember of the group, was found dead andbruised in a nearby river. At the time ofwriting, a second Guarani man, RolindoVerá, is still missing and it is feared that hetoo has been killed.On 25 th November 2009, the approximately250 Guarani Kaiowá who had returned totheir ancestral land of Kurusu Mba, wereattacked by ranchers who approached thecommunity in ten trucks and fired gunshots.The body of Osmair Martins Ximenes, ateenager of Kurusu Mba, was found beatenup on 16 th December. It is suspected thathis killing is directly related to thecommunity’s recent return to their land.These assassinations and cases ofviolence are in breach of Article 5bof the International Convention onthe Elimination of all Forms of RacialDiscrimination, which guarantees theright of all people to ‘security of personand protection by the State againstviolence or bodily harm, whetherinflicted by government officials orby any individual group or institution’.11
6. SUICIDEThe response to the injustices and desperation theGuarani face is reflected in their very high suiciderate: one of the highest amongst any tribal andnon-tribal people in the world. The suicides of theGuarani Kaiowá are emphasised as a particularlynotable case in the UN’s 2009 report entitled Thestate of the world’s indigenous peoples. 49In 2005, the overall Guarani suicide rate was86.3 per 100,000 population. The suicide rateoverall in Mato Grosso do Sul was 8.6 per100,000 population, and the national rate was4.5. The Guarani suicide rate in 2005 was thusapproximately ten times the rate in Mato Grossodo Sul and 19 times the national rate in 2004. 50In 2005, the suicide rate amongst Guarani Indiansbetween the age of 20 and 29 years was 159.9 per100,000 population, whilst the national rate for thesame group was 6.1 per 100,000 in 2004. 51 Theyoungest Guarani to commit suicide, Luciane Ortiz,was just nine years old.Data compiled by the NGO CIMI show a total of625 suicides amongst the Guarani population inthe past 28 years. 52 Appendix A shows Guaranisuicides from 1981 to 2008. Research by theNational Health Agency (Fundação Nacional deSaúde- FUNASA) shows that of the 34 Guaranicommunities and reserves, suicides have beenreported in 28 communities and one reserve. 53The main reason for this high suicide rate is thelack of land that the Guarani suffer, as RosalinoOrtiz Guarani Ñandeva explains: ‘The Guaraniare committing suicide because we have noland. We don’t have space any more. In theold days, we were free, now we are no longerfree. So our young people look around themand think there is nothing left and wonderhow they can live. They sit down and think,they forget, they lose themselves and thencommit suicide.’ 54Guarani Kaiowá children as youngas nine have taken their own lives.Indeed, the municipality with the highest suiciderate is that of Dourados, 55 where the land problemis most acute and Guarani of different tekohá livetogether in over-populated reserves. As oneGuarani told Survival ‘In Dourados where therehave been most suicides a young person told mehe didn’t want to live any more because there wasno reason to carry on living – there is no hunting,no fishing, and the water is polluted.’CIMI also indicates that high rates of suicide occurin communities where people were trapped in thecentre of their territories which had been invadedby ranchers 56 , as in the case of Porto Lindo or insettlements such as Panambizinho.Other motives for suicide are poverty, hungerand precarious housing, as well as the lack ofopportunities to earn wages in the communitiesfollowing the loss of land, the destabilising impactof the intense manual labour in the sugarcanefactories, and the prejudice that the Guarani facefrom non-indigenous society. 5712
Page 1 and 2: March 2010VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHTS
Page 3 and 4: Ferreira Lima of the Public Prosecu
Page 5 and 6: Many Guarani are now forcedto live
Page 7 and 8: 3. LAND DEMARCATIONAs stated above,
Page 9 and 10: RODRIGUES, GUARANI KAIOWÁ FROM ARR
Page 11: 5. VIOLENCEThe forced removal of tr
Page 15 and 16: and which can poison food. Dr. Joã
Page 17 and 18: 9. EXPLOITATION OF MANUAL LABOURERS
Page 19 and 20: CONCLUSIONIn Survival’s opinion,
Page 21 and 22: FOOTNOTES1Personal communication 19
Page 23 and 24: REFERENCESAçúcar-Etico. 2007. ‘
Page 25 and 26: Guarani Kaiowá Indigenous Rights C

violations of the rights of the guarani of mato grosso do sul state, brazil

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