“Brazil: Reject Anti-Indigenous Rights Bill”, 24 August 2021

...Bill 490/2007, currently pending before the Chamber of Deputies, would prevent Indigenous peoples from obtaining legal recognition of their traditional lands if they were not physically present there on October 5, 1988 – the day Brazil’s Constitution was enacted – or if they had not initiated legal proceedings to claim it by that date. But the Constitution recognizes Indigenous people’s right to “the lands they traditionally occupy,” without any time limits or arbitrary cut-off date. “Approval of this bill would be one of the most significant setbacks in the recognition of Indigenous peoples’ rights over their traditional lands and resources since the return to democracy in Brazil almost three decades ago,” said Anna Lívia Arida, Brazil associate director at Human Rights Watch. “It comes at a moment of extreme vulnerability for Indigenous people, who face not only invasion of their lands by miners and loggers, but also open hostility from the Bolsonaro administration”...The bill had been lingering in Congress since 2007 but gained new strength after President Bolsonaro took office…The bill would also allow the government to explore energy resources, set up military bases, and expand strategic roads in Indigenous lands without any consultation with Indigenous peoples. International standards require effective consultation with Indigenous peoples in good faith to obtain their free and informed consent before approving projects that would impact their lands and livelihoods, including for military activities, as well as before approving laws to that effect. Congress is also examining a possible withdrawal from International Labour Organization Convention 169, which recognizes the right of Indigenous people to be consulted about projects in their lands, among other provisions...