The Ministry of Justice and Public Security created a working group whose members must present, within 60 days, proposals for actions to be implemented by the federal government in order to combat the activities of criminal organizations in indigenous lands, including illegal mining. According to the ministry, criminal practices “and the very serious violations of fundamental rights caused by illegal mining” have caused, in the last four years alone, the death of around 570 children in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in Roraima. In the text of Ordinance No. 292, which establishes the working group and was published in today’s Official Gazette (30), the portfolio states that the illegal exploitation of ore within Union lands intended for exclusive indigenous use can characterize crimes such as usurpation of Union assets, ideological falsehood, money laundering, in addition to environmental crimes. Coordinated by the National Secretariat for Access to Justice, the working group will be composed of representatives of the National Secretariat for Public Security; the Federal Police (PF) and the Federal Highway Police (PRF). At the invitation of the National Secretariat for Access to Justice, representatives of the Ministries of Indigenous Peoples, Mines and Energy, Defense, Human Rights and Citizenship, in addition to the Ministry of Finance and other public or entities. Considered as providing a relevant public service, participation in the group will not be remunerated. Sanitary Crisis Although indigenous entities and bodies such as the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) have already denounced the lack of assistance to communities in the Yanomami Indigenous Land for a long time, new images of malnourished children and adults, as well as health units crowded with people with malaria and other diseases have attracted the attention of public opinion in recent weeks and motivated the federal government to implement emergency measures to help the Yanomami. Click here and follow the coverage of Agência Brasil on the subject. Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Health sent technical teams to Roraima to carry out a diagnosis of the health situation of the approximately 30,400 inhabitants of the Yanomami Indigenous Land. At the time, the initiative was announced as a first step by the federal government to outline, in partnership with civil society institutions, a “new unprecedented strategy by the federal government to restore access” of the Yanomami to “quality health”. When visiting the Casa de Saúde Indígena (Casai) in Boa Vista, where the Yanomami who need hospital care are taken, and the base centers in Surucucu and Xitei, inside the indigenous reserve, the technicians came across children and elderly people in serious state of malnutrition, in addition to many cases of malaria, acute respiratory infection (ARI) and other problems. Five days after the teams started working in loco, the ministry declared a Public Health Emergency of National Importance and created the Public Health Emergency Operations Center (COE-Y), responsible for coordinating the measures to be implemented, including the distribution of resources for the restoration of services and articulation with state and municipal managers of the Unified Health System (SUS). On the 21st, the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and several members of the federal government, such as the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, and of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, went to Boa Vista, where they visited Casai. The president promised to involve several ministries to overcome the serious health crisis and, on the same day, Brazilian Air Force (FAB) planes transported around 1.26 tons of food to be distributed to the Yanomami communities. On the last day (24), professionals from the National Force of the SUS began to reinforce the assistance provided at the Indigenous Health Support House (Casai) in Boa Vista. At the request of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the PF launched an investigation on the 25th to investigate the possible practice of genocide, failure to provide assistance, environmental crimes, as well as other illegal acts against the Yanomami. On Friday (27), the first field hospital set up by the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) in the state capital began operating, with thirty military health professionals attending to part of the patients transferred from the indigenous land, about two hours away away flight. “We are going to structure a plan with short, medium and long term actions based on the report [das equipes técnicas] that we received”, announced the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade. “It is not a situation revealed now. It has been denounced numerous times by indigenous organizations and allies. Between November 2018 and December 2022, there were six judicial decisions, in the various instances of the Judiciary, condemning the State to take the urgent necessary measures”, maintains the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi), an indigenist body linked to the National Conference of Bishops of the Brazil (CNBB).
Agência Brasil
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