"By staining the streets red, we are showing how much blood has been shed in our fight for the protection of indigenous lands." Sonia Guajajara, 2018.

Dear Jack,

A disastrous vote in Brazil’s Congress threatens the survival of Indigenous people across the entire country. It’s the most serious attack on Indigenous rights in decades, and it’s vital that there’s a global outcry against it.

The bill that Brazil’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, has just approved, is called PL490. It attacks Indigenous people and their rights on every level:

- It could allow ANY Indigenous territory in the country to be scrapped, or slashed in size, and replaced by mines, oil wells or other industrial projects.

- Loggers, ranchers and others who have illegally invaded Indigenous territories will be allowed to remain there destroying the forest, until the lands are fully demarcated – a process that usually takes decades.

- Government teams will be allowed to make forced contact with uncontacted tribes. Such contacts are almost always deadly.

- Many Indigenous peoples will never be able to recover their land as the bill also boosts the Time Limit Trick, a pro-business ruse which states that Indigenous peoples who can’t prove they were on their land when the Constitution was enacted in October 1988 will never have their rights recognized.

Altogether hundreds of Indigenous territories that are home to over a million Indigenous people could be destroyed, and dozens of uncontacted tribes could be wiped out. 

All this is in direct violation of Brazil’s constitution and international law, but the powerful agribusiness lobby in Congress doesn’t care about that.

Brazil’s upper house – the Senate – could vote this bill through at any moment.

Please email the Senators now, urging them to vote against this appalling and dangerous bill.

Thank you,

Caroline Pearce
Executive Director