A landmark Supreme Court trial on indigenous land rights has been delayed once again, after Justice André Mendonça on Wednesday requested more time to analyze the case.
Brazil’s Supreme Court is ruling on the merits of a legal interpretation known as the “time frame argument,” which posits that indigenous peoples can only lay claim to lands they occupied as of October 5, 1988, when the current constitution was promulgated.
The indigenous reject this interpretation as unconstitutional and a violation of their rights, arguing that it disregards the situation of native peoples who were displaced from their ancestral lands at that specific date.
The vote was last adjourned back in September 2021 at the request of Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who this afternoon cast his vote in favor of the indigenous in the landmark case pitting the Xokleng ethnic group against the state of Santa Catarina — bringing the vote 2-1 in favor of rejecting a time limit for demarcating indigenous lands.
Justice Moraes did, however, speak in favor of using a time frame when establishing reparations to landowners.
Justice Mendonça was due to vote next, and his request to suspend the trial just one hour in once again delays a decision on the case; a new date for the trial to restart must be set within 90 days, or it is automatically put back on the docket. Justice Mendonça was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Jair Bolsonaro, a critic of protected indigenous lands and defender of the time frame argument.
In parallel with the Supreme Court vote, Congress has been legislating on the issue. The lower house approved a bill establishing the time frame argument last week amid fierce criticism from indigenous populations and activists. The bill now lies with the Senate.
Indigenous movements have been mobilizing to defend their rights, with demonstrations taking place in at least nine states this Wednesday. An encampment was set up on the Esplanade of Ministries in the capital, Brasília.
In the state of Minas Gerais, a group of indigenous demonstrators blocked a stretch of the Fernão Dias highway on the way into the state capital, Belo Horizonte.
The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib), one of the country’s main indigenous groupings, today released a report outlining the risks and violations that the time limit argument presents to indigenous rights.
They argue it is unconstitutional and in violation of international treaties; jeopardizes future land demarcations; encourages land grabbing and illegal land occupations; and threatens the environmental protection services provided by indigenous peoples, among other things.
The Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Ipam) calculates that, should the time frame argument be approved, it would lead to the deforestation of between 23 million and 55 million native forests, resulting in the emission of 7.6 to 18.7 billion tons of CO2.
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