2023-08-14 16:38:26
| Matheus Alves / MNI
Opinion article originally published in Folha de São Paulo, on 8/12/2023
Last Wednesday (8/9) was the International Day of Indigenous Peoples and also the day after the “Amazon Summit”, which brought together, in Belém, the heads of the South American countries that make up the Amazon. There was great expectation, in the indigenous movement, in civil society and in the government itself, that President Lula would sign the homologation decrees for eight Indigenous Lands (TIs), already physically demarcated, whose processes had been shelved since the Bolsonaro government.
The Constitution determines that the Union demarcate and protect the ILs, which was not complied with by the previous administration. Lula promised to resume and conclude all pending demarcation processes. When he took over, he found 14 of them just in the drawer of the Planalto Palace. Six were ratified in April, when it was said, in relation to the other eight, that there were still necessary formal adjustments and that the edition of the respective decrees would take place later on.
With the pendencies resolved and the processes being forwarded from the Ministry of Justice to the Civil House, it was expected that the decrees would be published as soon as possible. In recent weeks, information has circulated that only two approvals would be announced, as there were no demonstrations to the contrary in these cases. After all, no decree was edited and the government claimed that the coincidence of the date with the end of the summit made the announcements inappropriate.
In fact, the Casa Civil’s vacillation in the face of extemporaneous manifestations contrary to these decrees is inappropriate. The fear is that it means ignorance about the administrative process of demarcation. On the other hand, it casts doubt on the government’s political will and President Lula’s commitment to resolve, once and for all, the pending issues that still exist on about a third of the ILs with open processes at the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) .
Different from what many think, it is not the approval decree that defines the limits of an IT. It is the penultimate stage of a multistage process and which begins with the creation, by Funai, of a working group to prepare the identification study. It is up to the president of the indigenist body to approve it or not. There are deadlines for the manifestation and contestations of interested parties. After that, the Ministry of Justice approves or rejects the limits or may ask Funai to take new steps. If these limits are approved, the indigenist body proceeds with their physical demarcation and digitization. Only then is approval carried out by means of a presidential decree. After this step, the area is registered at the real estate registry office of the corresponding district and at the Federal Heritage Secretariat (SPU).
It is worth remembering that these eight lands, as well as the other six that were ratified in April, had their boundaries defined many years ago by ministerial ordinances. In addition, significant public resources have already been invested in the physical demarcation works and there are no pending administrative issues or judicial decisions that prevent their homologation.
It is also worth remembering that we are also discussing the drawer of Jair Bolsonaro, the most anti-indigenous president in our recent history, and that there are another 240 areas with open processes at Funai and pending in some instance of the government awaiting conclusion. If the government soon becomes entangled in the pendencies inherited from Bolsonaro, what can be expected from the process as a whole?
The Planalto should have known that the definition of the limits of these lands preceded the demarcations. Another question arises: are you going to sit on top of the processes or return them to Funai at this point, prolonging conflicts and postponing solutions?
President Lula needs to fix the situation, as there are communities involved and local tensions. The lack of definition by the Civil House affects the president’s speech and may even provoke a government crisis. It’s better to unscrew.
#Civil #House #blocks #homologations #Indigenous #Lands