Indigenous people, conflicts and land governance in Brazil after the constitution of 1988: An overview with focus on recent events

Vitor Bukvar, Delaide Passos, Bastiaan Philip Reydon

Internationally there are an alarming number of violations of indigenous peoples’ land and human rights. Brazil is currently under the spotlight as the heightening of the political crisis that led to the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff brings national and international concerns over the uncertainty related to changes in policy that may be adopted by the interim Government in relation to indigenous peoples land rights. With a focus on land governance, our study aims to assess if the policies for indigenous land in the Legal Amazon during the Workers Party governments (2003-2016), based on the Constitution of 1988, represented an improvement to the indigenous population’s land use and access rights. Preliminary data shows that with the demarcation of the Indigenous lands (Terras Indigenas) their educational and social situation improved significantly during the period. Besides that the study will quantify and analyze the impacts that the changes in the legislation from the last year have had on: a) indigenous land insecurity (grabbing) and b) violence on indigenous people.

Event: Land Governance in an Interconnected World_Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty_2018

Document type:Indigenous people, conflicts and land governance in Brazil after the constitution of 1988: An overview with focus on recent events (582 kB - pdf)