Government suspends new authorizations for access to Yanomami territory

The federal government has suspended the granting of new authorizations to enter the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in Roraima, and will reassess all those already granted. The decision is part of a joint ordinance edited by the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) and the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai) and published in today’s Official Gazette (1st). According to the two federal agencies, the objective of the procedures is to “protect” the Yanomami communities in the midst of a serious humanitarian crisis that, according to the federal government, caused the death of at least 570 children in the Yanomami Indigenous Land in just four years. Denounced by indigenous leaders and indigenous organizations for years, the situation mobilized public opinion after the press released, in mid-January, new images of visibly malnourished Yanomami adults and children, many with malaria, waiting for medical assistance in the indigenous land or crowding the Casa de Saúde Indígena (Casai) in Boa Vista, where indigenous people who need hospital care for malaria, acute respiratory infections and other diseases for which there are no medicines at the base poles are taken. Five days after sending technical teams to Roraima to carry out a diagnosis of the health situation of the approximately 30,400 inhabitants of the Yanomami Indigenous Land, the Ministry of Health declared a Public Health Emergency of National Importance. It also 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). The joint ordinance that Funai and Sesai published today establishes that, for as long as the declaration of Public Health Emergency of National Importance is in force, only health and sanitation professionals and public servants on duty will be able to enter the Yanomami Indigenous Land, following the guidelines and regulations of its bodies and respecting the rights of indigenous communities. With a view to “protecting and respecting indigenous peoples”, entry into the Yanomami exclusive usufruct reserve must be in line with the priority actions defined by COE-Y. And public servants on mission must present FUNAI with proof that they have taken all doses of the vaccine against covid-19 and that they have tested negative for the disease up to a maximum of 24 hours before entering the indigenous land, in addition to a certificate doctor proving that they do not have any infectious disease and signed Individual Term of Commitment. It will be up to Funai to evaluate eventual requests to enter the Yanomami Indigenous Land that are not detailed in the Ordinance, in agreement with the indigenous communities, with Sesai and with the COE. In these specific and justified cases, however, the request must be submitted at least five days in advance.

Agência Brasil