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Native Brazilians to ask human
rights commission for land
Brazilian indigenous people will
appeal to the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
to help remove non-native
inhabitants from their lands in
the Amazon rain forest region,
an indigenous council said on
Wednesday.
The Roraimas Indigenous Council
and the Rain Forest Foundation,
a non-governmental organization,
issued a request to the IACHR
asking it to take measures to
stop the violation of natives
rights in the Raposa Serra do
Sol reservation in Roraima
state.
But the Brazilian government has
yet to issue a decree officially
stating the land is an
indigenous reservation.
In Dec. 2004, the IACHR asked
the local government to help
protect the integrity and
culture of a number of
indigenous tribes in the
country, as well as to
investigate crimes allegedly
committed by "non-natives" in
the area.
Since then, the council and the
Rain Forest Foundation have
notified the IACHR of several
other violations, such as the
kidnapping of Indians, threats
of murder and land invasions.
According to the council, the
IACHR will assess the situation
and decide whether the case will
be referred to the
Inter-American Court of Human
Rights headquartered in
Washington, the United States.
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