In 2022, 2,018 cases of conflicts in the countryside were registered, involving 909.4 thousand people and more than 80.1 million hectares of land in dispute throughout the national territory, which corresponds to the average of one conflict every four hours. The data are contained in the annual report on violence in the countryside, released by the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) this Monday (17). These numbers indicate an increase of 10.39% in relation to the previous year, when 1,828 total occurrences of rural conflicts were registered. These occurrences include not only specific disputes over land, but also disputes over water, workers rescued in conditions analogous to slavery, pesticide contamination, murders, deaths and other cases of violence. “Over the last ten years, it was only in 2020 that we had a higher overall number of conflicts than this one, in the middle of the pandemic. Therefore, last year’s numbers are very serious”, observes Isolete Wichinieski, from the CPT’s national coordination. In terms of conflict over land, there were 1,572 occurrences in the country. The number represents an increase of 16.70% compared to the previous year. In all, 181,304 families lived in the face of this type of conflict in Brazil, which is 4.61% more than that registered in 2021. The cases included in this axis are the occurrences of violence against occupation and possession and against people, in addition to collective actions to occupy land and encampments. Amazon under attack Of the federation units with the highest rates of conflicts over land, four are part of the Legal Amazon. In 2022, the region concentrated a total of 1,107 conflicts in the countryside, which represents more than half of all conflicts in the country (54.86%), points out the report. Another alarming fact is that, of the 47 murders in the countryside registered in Brazil last year, 34 occurred in the Legal Amazon, which represents 72.35% of all murders in the country. “The upward curve in the Legal Amazon makes it one of the most serious epicenters of violence in the countryside today”, says the CPT in the survey. The report describes the region of the largest tropical forest on the planet as “a stage for exploitation and devastation, creating a veritable minefield, in which 121,341 families of indigenous peoples and peasant communities were affected in 2022”. CPT data also show the main causes of these conflicts. Last year, ranchers were responsible for 23% of the occurrences of conflict over land, followed by the federal government, with 16%. Then come businessmen (13%) and land grabbers (11%). The main change compared to 2021 was the growth in the federal government’s participation in land conflicts, which jumped from 10% to 16%. Agricultural frontier areas in the Amazon have registered increasing levels of conflict. This is the case of the Abunã-Madeira Sustainable Development Zone (ZDS) (Amacro), which encompasses 32 municipalities located in the south of Amazonas, east of Acre and northwest of Rondônia, comprising an area of over 454,000 square kilometers. The region has been the scene of a growing number of conflicts over land in recent years, focusing mainly on traditional communities, such as indigenous territories. In 2022, 150 cases of conflicts over land were registered in that region specifically, the third highest number in the last ten years, according to the CPT. “The commission has observed that, since 2004, there has been a change in the focus of these conflicts, which are no longer, for the most part, with the landless, disputes over land and against agrarian reform, to conflicts that go against communities, especially indigenous peoples, through land grabbing or invasions”, points out Isolete Wichinieski. Slave labor The CPT report indicates that, throughout 2022, 207 cases of work analogous to slavery in rural areas were notified, with 2,615 people involved in the complaints and 2,218 rescued, the highest number in the last ten years. Compared to the previous year, the increase was 29% in the number of people rescued and 32% in the number of cases. The survey reveals that the state of Minas Gerais concentrated the highest number of this type of violence (62 cases with 984 people rescued), followed by Goiás (17 cases with 258 people rescued); Piauí (23 cases with 180 people rescued); Rio Grande do Sul (10 cases with 148 people rescued); Mato Grosso do Sul (10 cases with 116 people rescued) and São Paulo (10 cases with 87 people rescued). These numbers refer exclusively to people rescued in rural areas, which represent 88% of these cases in the country. The other 12% are cases of slave labor in urban areas, which are not included in the report. “These data do not represent the total number of people who work in subhuman conditions in the Brazilian countryside, since not all occurrences are notified or even discovered”, says the entity. According to the CPT, agribusiness and monoculture companies are mainly responsible for the degrading work situation in the country. In the sugar and alcohol sector alone, for example, 523 people were rescued last year. Rain of pesticides Another worsening of violations in rural areas was observed with the increase in cases of contamination by pesticides. A total of 193 people were affected, an increase of 171.85% compared to 2021. The number of families affected by the application of poison to crops totaled 6,831, which represents 86% more than 2021 and the highest number recorded by the CPT since 2010, when this type of violence began to be investigated by Pastoral.
Agência Brasil
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