Indigenous Peoples in Brazil and Guyana: A View from the Frontlines

A panel discussion on the rights of Indigenous peoples in Brazil and Guyana.

Joênia Batista de Carvalho, Indigenous Council of Roraima
André Lima, Socio-environmental Institute
Jean La Rose, Amerindian Peoples Association
Joanna Simmons, Amerindian Legal Services Center
Ana Valéria Araújo, Rainforest Foundation-US

 

Local peoples have been fighting for official recognition of their land rights for some thirty years, lending RSS strong symbolic importance on the national level, as well as very real importance for the peoples who live there. In Guyana, a series of community-based mapping projects and ground-breaking lawsuits have been used to demand Indigenous land rights. These will be addressed by representatives from the country’s foremost Indigenous organization.

The panel discussion is being co-organized by the Bildner Center and the Rainforest Foundation-US, a New York-based organization dedicated to supporting the rights of Indigenous peoples in Latin America. The speakers, who are briefly described below, represent Indigenous organizations and NGOs that partner with the RF-US on a series of legal, public policy, and capacity building initiatives in both Brazil and Guyana.

The panel discussion will be a rare opportunity to hear about the situations of Indigenous peoples in Brazil and Guyana directly from people on the frontlines of the struggle for the recognition of Indigenous rights in Latin America. There will be ample opportunity for questions and discussion following the presentation.

Speakers:

Joênia Batista de Carvalho is a Wapixana lawyer who coordinates the legal department of the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR). She is the first Indigenous woman lawyer in Brazil. CIR is one of the most important representative Indigenous organization in the state of Roraima, in the Northern Brazilian Amazon. Well respected throughout Brazil and internationally, CIR has been involved in many of the victories seen by Indigenous communities in the region. Official ratification of the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land, home to the Macuxi, Wapixana, and Ingaricó peoples, is a priority of Indigenous peoples in the state. It has gained tremendous symbolic and real importance over the past 30 years, as the focus of an intense struggle for the recognition of Indigenous land, rights and culture.

André Lima is the coordinator of the Legal Program of the Socio-environmental Institute (ISA), one of Brazil’s most important organizations working on social and environmental issues. ISA has worked on the defense of environmental and collective human rights of indigenous peoples and local populations in Brazil, having been responsible for several precedent-making cases before the Federal Justice in the country.

Jean La Rose is the Program Administrator of the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), Guyana. The APA represents eight of the country’s nine Indigenous peoples, and has become the most important Indigenous organization of Guyana. In 1999, Jean was selected by Amerindian organizations and leaders to represent them in the constitutional revision process, and became the vice chair of the Constitutional Revision Commission. In 2002, she was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her work.

 

 

 

 

Ana Valéria Araújo Executive Director of the Rainforest Foundation-US, Ana is a human rights lawyer from Brazil with more than 15 years of experience in the field of indigenous rights and environmental law. She has been involved in some important Indian land rights cases in her country. She will be moderating the panel discussion

When: Thursday, November 21 at 6:00 P.M.
Where: Room C204/C205
The CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue
(Between 34th and 35th Street)

To reserve, send e-mail to brazilproject@gc.cuny.edu or leave message at (212) 817-2096

Pictures provided courtesy of Rainforest Foundation US.