Fundação Nacional dos Povos Indígenas
FUNAI National Indigenous People Foundation | |
Joênia Wapichana, President | |
Parent agency | Ministry of Native People |
---|---|
Website | www |
Part of a series on |
Indigenous rights |
---|
Rights |
Governmental organizations |
NGOs and political groups |
Issues |
Legal representation |
Countries |
|
Category |
The Fundação Nacional dos Povos Indígenas (Portuguese pronunciation: [fũdaˈsɐ̃w̃ nasjoˈnaw dus ˈpɔvuz ĩˈd͡ʒiʒenɐs], lit. 'National Indigenous People Foundation') or FUNAI is a Brazilian governmental protection agency for Amerindian interests and their culture.
Original founding as Indian Protection Service
In 1910, the Indian Protection Service (Serviço de Proteção ao Índio), or the SPI, was founded under the leadership of Brazilian Marshal Candido Rondon.[1] Rondon created the foundation's motto: "Die if necessary, but never kill." Drawing from his Positivism, Rondon led the SPI with the belief that the native Indians should be allowed to develop at their own pace. With state assistance and protection, Indians would eventually integrate into modern society.[1][2] The SPI then began its mission to "pacify" Indian communities by setting up posts in their territories to foster communication and protection.[1] Efforts were initially met by opposition and hostility from Indian groups; there were reports of SPI agents being attacked and shot by arrows.[3] During the 1950s and 1960s, following the death of Rondon, the SPI's officials became corrupt. In 1967, the officials were accused of sexual perversion, abuse, and the massacre of entire tribes by introducing diseases and pesticides, leading to an international outcry for the disbandment of SPI.[1][4] Following this disbandment, FUNAI was created to take over SPI's responsibilities and remedy the damages caused by corruption.
Early years
FUNAI was created by Law No. 5,371, under jurisdiction of the
Contact with isolated tribes
The Central Department for Isolated Indians and Recently Contacted Indians is a division within FUNAI to handle dealings with isolated indigenous tribes. Article 231 of the 1988 Constitution expresses indigenous peoples' rights to preserve their culture, traditions, and customs; since contact with mainstream society could jeopardize isolated tribes' culture, FUNAI undertakes efforts to maintain these tribes' isolation.[12] The CGIIRC division is responsible for protecting areas with known isolated tribes from outside contact, since outside contact could spread disease within indigenous communities.[12][13] The department is present in 12 regions of Brazil's Amazon region, and almost all of Brazil's known uncontacted tribes reside within already demarcated lands.[13] FUNAI has records of about 107 isolated Indians' presence.[12]
Legislation and demarcation efforts
The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 recognized Indians' rights to practice their customs without pressure to assimilate or integrate into mainstream Brazilian society. Article 231 also defines Indians' rights to their lands, and outlines FUNAI's responsibility to demarcate those lands. The article also provides that mining and other energy resources on indigenous lands are only allowed with the approval of Congress, and after taking into account the Indigenous populations' input.[14] The Constitution set a goal of demarcating indigenous lands in five years, but by 1993 only 291 of 559 indigenous territories were demarcated.[15]
In 1991, Decree 22 outlined five steps FUNAI must follow to demarcate indigenous lands:
- FUNAI's president is responsible for establishing an anthropological team to identify the lands to be demarcated.
- The team must then prepare a report of their findings.
- The team must publish the report to the Minister of Justice, who will review the report and issue an Administrative Decree outlining the area's boundaries.
- The FUNAI is responsible for physically demarcating the lands, checking with the Minister of Justice and the President for continuous approval.
- Finally FUNAI registers the property with the Federal Property Departement.[16]
In 1996, Brazil's President Cardoso passed Decree 1775, which effectively revoked Decree 22 and expanded the ways that commercial interests could contest the demarcation of lands. Individuals or companies were allowed from the beginning of the demarcation process until 90 days after FUNAI issued their report to submit an appeal showing that the contested lands do not meet the qualifications of indigenous lands as stated in the constitution.[16] The government claimed that allowing people to contest indigenous lands during the demarcation process would prevent any future challenges of completed lands on the basis of unconstitutionality.[16][17] The decree was widely contested as a violation of indigenous rights, earning the nickname of the "Genocide Decree," due to the power it gave to commercial interests to exploit Indian lands.[18] By April 1996, FUNAI had received over 500 appeals for over 40 indigenous territories that were in the process of being demarcated.[16][19] FUNAI followed procedure and submitted its official opinion to the Ministry of Justice, rejecting the appeals that were brought against the indigenous lands.[16][19] Justice Nelson Jobim sided with FUNAI on all except eight territories, ordering further investigation.
One of these territories was the
On 28 December 2009, President Luís Inácio (Lula) da Silva signed Presidential Decree 7056, also known as the "FUNAI Statute".[22] The decree restructured FUNAI, effectively closing hundreds of indigenous posts and regional FUNAI offices.[22][23] The government never consulted with indigenous populations, even though under Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization, the government is required to discuss legal changes that would affect indigenous populations.[22] This led to hundreds of indigenous people, deeming themselves the Revolutionary Indigenous Camp, to protest outside the Ministry of Justice building.[24] The protesters called for the resignation of FUNAI president Márcio Augusto Freitas de Meira and the revocation of Decree 7056. Protesters were eventually forcibly removed from their camp outside the Ministry of Justice Building, and the Decree remained in effect, decreasing the quality and efficiency FUNAI could provide to indigenous peoples.[25]
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government approved 81 applications for demarcation, but Dilma Rousseff's government approved only 11 territories from 2011 to 2015.[26]
Changes under President Jair Bolsonaro
The former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has expressed his determination to increase the economic exploitation of Brazil's resources and to increase commercial mining and farming on indigenous reserves.
Within hours of taking office in January 2019, Bolsonaro made two major changes to FUNAI: He moved FUNAI from under the Ministry of Justice to be under the newly created
According to Al Jazeera, in February 2019, several indigenous organisations reported to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on violence exerted against indigenous communities including homicides, stonings, deforesting, threats and arson.[29]
In July 2019, Bolsonaro appointed Marcelo Xavier da Silva, a federal police officer with strong connections to
In April 2020, FUNAI authorized the registration and sale of land on unratified or unregistered indigenous territories. This could affect 237 reserves in 24 states. However, in June 2020 the state attorney general of Mato Grosso put in a bid for annulment. He called the authorization a dereliction of FUNAI's own mission.[31]
Second presidency of Lula da Silva
In his first act of government, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued the Provisional Measure No. 1,154, of 1 January 2023, which created the Ministry of Indigenous People, and also renamed the Fundação Nacional do Índio (National Indian Foundation – FUNAI) with the name of Fundação Nacional dos Povos Indígenas (National Indigenous People Foundation), in addition to linking this foundation authority to the newly created ministry.[32]
On the same day, Sônia Guajajara, a federal deputy elected for São Paulo in 2022, became the first indigenous woman to hold a ministerial position in the Brazilian government, when she was appointed as a minister.[33]
See also
- Cândido Rondon
- Celso Brandão
- Figueiredo Report
- Indigenous peoples in Brazil
- Mercio Pereira Gomes
- Sydney Possuelo
Notes and references
- ^ S2CID 145473397.
- ^ "What Future for the Amerindians of South America? Minority Rights Group Report 15" (PDF). Minority Rights Group. 15. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
- ^ "The Social Integrations of Indigenous Populations in Brazil". International Labour Review. 85 (4). Archived from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
- ISBN 9783110806458.
- ^ "QUEM SOMOS". funai.gov.br. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
- ^ a b "Indians in Brazil: Is Genocide Inevitable?". Native Americas. 12.
- ^ .
- JSTOR 3339531.
- ^ JSTOR 762266.
- PMID 23610170.
- ^ International, Survival. "Uncontacted tribes: Contact, respect and isolation". survivalinternational.org. Archived from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
- ^ a b c "Povos Indígenas Isolados e de Recente Contato". funai.gov.br. Archived from the original on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ S2CID 145619302.
- ^ "Rights > Constitution > Constitutional rights of the indigenous peoples". pib.socioambiental.org. Archived from the original on 25 September 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ S2CID 144099400.
- ^ Wiessner, Siegfried (1999). "ights and Status of Indigenous Peoples: A Global Comparative and International Legal Analysis". Harvard Human Rights Journal. 12: 57. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
- ^ Anderson, Samara (2003). "Colonialism Continues: A Comparative Analysis of the United States and Brazil's Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples' Forest Resources". Vermont Law Review. Archived from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
- ^ a b c "Brazil 1997 – Chapter VI". cidh.org. Archived from the original on 24 January 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
- ^ a b Chernela, Janet (2001). "FRACTURED LANDS: The Politics of Conservation in North-Central Brazil". Entrecaminos. 6. Archived from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
- ^ a b Chernela, Janet (2006). "Lex Talionis: Recent Advances and Retreats in Indigenous Rights in Brazil". Actualidades.
- ^ a b c Guzman, Tracy (2012). "Writing Indigenous Activism in Brazil: Belo Monte and the Acampamento Indígena Revolucionário". A Contracorriente. 10.
- ^ WV. "CIMI – Conselho Indigenista Missionário". cimi.org.br. Archived from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ Guzman, Tracy (2013). Native and National in Brazil: Indigeneity After Independence. UNC Press Books.
- ^ Rangel, Lucia (2014). Violence Against Indigenous Peoples in Brazil: 2014 Data. Missionary Council for Indigenous Peoples.
- PMID 26045417.
- ^ a b Karla Mendes (5 June 2019). "Brazil's Congress reverses Bolsonaro, restores Funai's land demarcation powers". news.mongabay.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- ^ Marian Blasberg, Marco Evers, Jens Glüsing, Claus Hecking (17 January 2019). "Swath of Destruction: New Brazilian President Takes Aim at the Amazon". Spiegel Online. spiegel.de. Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Mia Alberti (14 February 2019). "Brazil's indigenous groups decry Bolsonaro's escalating attacks". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- ^ Dom Phillips (21 July 2019). "Bolsonaro pick for Funai agency horrifies indigenous leaders". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- ^ "A bid to legitimize invasions of Brazil's indigenous lands faces a court challenge". Mongabay Environmental News. 10 June 2020. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ "MEDIDA PROVISÓRIA Nº 1.154, DE 1º DE JANEIRO DE 2023, Estabelece a organização básica dos órgãos da Presidência da República e dos Ministérios". Imprensa Nacional. 1 January 2022. Archived from the original on 20 February 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ "Em 55 anos, Joenia Wapichana será a primeira mulher indígena a assumir a Presidência da Funai". Fundação Nacional dos Povos Indígenas (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 6 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
Bibliography
- (in French) ISBN 2-07-077049-4).
External links
- (in Portuguese) Official website
- (in Portuguese) Ministério da Justiça
- (in Portuguese) Text of the 1967 law authorizing the creation of FUNAI
- "'Uncontacted tribe' sighted in Amazon" (CNN)