Inter-American Court of Human Rights visits Yanomami land

Huts in the Yanomami indigenous land. Photo: Fernando Frazão/ABr

A delegation of representatives of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights is visiting the Yanomami indigenous land, which straddles the northern Brazilian states of Amazonas and Roraima, to verify whether the federal government is effectively guaranteeing protection for indigenous peoples. The visit runs through Wednesday.

In July 2022, the court asked Brazil to “effectively protect the life, personal integrity, health, and access to food and drinking water” of the Yanomami, Ye’kwana, and Munduruku peoples.

These groups are located in areas increasingly threatened by the encroachment of wildcat gold miners — which has led to an increase in violent land conflicts, disease, and the contamination of water and soil (as wildcat mining often uses mercury to separate gold).

The provisional measures of the so-called Inter-American Court are mandatory and are issued in cases that the court considers to be extremely serious.

The Yanomami land is the largest indigenous territory in Brazil and has been affected by illegal mining and deforestation for decades. At the beginning of this year, hundreds of Yanomami children died of malnutrition and preventable causes — highlighting the gaps in healthcare coverage for indigenous populations.

The Health Ministry declared a public health emergency in the territory in the first days of January and started an operation to reverse the situation.

According to a report issued by the Human Rights Ministry, the former Jair Bolsonaro administration had ignored warnings from international bodies about the problems that the Yanomami people were facing. He is currently being investigated by the Federal Police for alleged lack of action to guarantee them essential services.

The Brazilian Report showed in May that previous governments and the military regime also acted to prevent humanitarian actions in Yanomami land during the decades of 1980 and 1990.

Recently, Yanomami indigenous associations issued a statement warning that illegal wildcat mining activities have returned to the protected land, with reports of unauthorized gold extraction operations on the Apiaú and Couto de Magalhães rivers.

Amanda Audi

Amanda Audi is a journalist specializing in politics and human rights. She is the former executive director of Congresso em Foco and worked as a reporter for The Intercept Brasil, Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo, Gazeta do Povo, Poder360, among others. In 2019, she won the Comunique-se Award for best-written media reporter and won the Mulher Imprensa award for web journalism in 2020