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

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