The federal government is investigating alleged threats made to health professionals and federal civil servants sent to Roraima to assist Yanomami Indians. According to members of the delegation from the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship who arrived in Boa Vista yesterday (29), the need to guarantee the physical integrity of the health and rescue teams is one more difficulty in facing the health crisis that affects the largest exclusive indigenous usufruct reserve in the country. “We are very concerned about the scenario of human rights violations and insecurity, especially [quanto à segurança] of indigenous leaders. We are also concerned about the teams that are providing care [aos yanomami]”, said the executive secretary of the ministry, Rita Oliveira, when revealing to journalists that “there are reports of threats to the teams”. to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, to guarantee the integrity of professionals and inhabitants of the indigenous territory, about a two-hour flight from the state capital. with local authorities to understand where public facilities are failing to serve indigenous communities […] The teams need to be able to do the work safely and properly,” added Rita, mentioning the difficulty for the teams to reach the reserve, which extends to the border with Venezuela and has long been the target of illegal activities by miners and loggers. The delegation from the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship arrived in Boa Vista this Sunday, with the task of drawing up a diagnosis of the health and humanitarian crisis that, according to the federal government, caused the death, from preventable causes, of around 570 children from the Yanomami Indigenous Land, just in the last four years. Teams from the Ministry of Health that visited the area a few weeks ago found the existence of hundreds of malnourished adults and children or with malaria. There is still a situation of food shortages, as the rivers that supply the approximately 26,000 inhabitants of the reserve are polluted by mercury from illegal mining, among other problems, such as the destruction of the forest. visit the health unit in Boa Vista where sick Indians who need hospital care are being transported, the members of the ministerial group will meet with indigenous leaders and with representatives of federal and state agencies in order to obtain information that will help them to prepare a report on possible violations of human rights. “Our mission here also has the purpose of investigating flaws in public policies to protect indigenous people, especially in the area of children and adolescents’ rights. In addition to the causes of infant mortality, we are investigating possible illegal adoptions of indigenous children; cases of irregular sheltering of children in shelters; sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation; failures in health care [prestado a] indigenous pregnant women and in pediatric care and coping with malnutrition of indigenous children in early childhood”, said the National Secretary for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, Ariel Castro, to Agência Brasil, explaining that the suspicions affect actions of responsibility both at the federal level, both state and municipal, for the last four years. Also part of the ministerial entourage are the National Secretary for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, Isadora Brandão, and the National Human Rights Ombudsman, Bruno Renato. Humanitarian Crisis Although indigenous organizations and bodies such as the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) have already denounced the lack of assistance to the communities of 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, drew the attention of the public. public in recent weeks and motivated the federal government to implement emergency measures for soc kill the Yanomami. For the current government team, the situation was aggravated by “criminal practices” and by “very serious violations of fundamental rights caused by illegal mining”. “There are strong elements that there was a deliberate omission in relation to public policies. We need to understand these responsibilities and direct their proper treatment”, commented Rita. Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Health sent technical teams to Roraima in charge of preparing a diagnosis on 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 reestablish access” for the Yanomami to “quality health”. the Casa de Saúde Indígena (Casai) in Boa Vista, where the Yanomami who need hospital care are taken, and the base centers of Surucucu and Xitei, inside the indigenous reserve, the technicians came across children and elderly people in serious condition of health, with severe malnutrition, in addition to many cases of malaria, acute respiratory infection (ARI) and other diseases. Five days after the teams started the work 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 the articulation with state and municipal managers of the Unified Health System (SUS). On the last 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 Support House for Indigenous Health (Casai) in Boa Vista. On the 25th, at the request of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the PF launched an investigation 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, on the 26th, the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade. “It is a very serious situation. A framework that will require inter-ministerial action. As I said [o xamã e líder yanomami] Davi Kopenawa, hunger is the tip of an iceberg, a terrible indicator, but the cause [do problema] It is not hunger, but illegal mining, which has disrupted life forms, contaminating rivers, providing conditions for the increase in cases of malaria through excavations where water accumulates.” “[Esta] 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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