Native Brazilians to ask human rights commission to defend their land

Brazilian indigenous people will appeal to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to help remove non-native inhabitants from their lands in the Amazon rain forest region, an indigenous council said on Wednesday.

The Roraimas Indigenous Council and the Rain Forest Foundation, a non-governmental organization, issued a request to the IACHR asking it to take measures to stop the violation of natives rights in the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation in Roraima state.

But the Brazilian government has yet to issue a decree officially stating the land is an indigenous reservation.

In Dec. 2004, the IACHR asked the local government to help protect the integrity and culture of a number of indigenous tribes in the country, as well as to investigate crimes allegedly committed by "non-natives" in the area.

Since then, the council and the Rain Forest Foundation have notified the IACHR of several other violations, such as the kidnapping of Indians, threats of murder and land invasions.

According to the council, the IACHR will assess the situation and decide whether the case will be referred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights headquartered in Washington, the United States.

Source: Xinhua