Self-determination, territorial autonomy and access to justice: Insights into the situation of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil from the Indigenous Navigator

The purpose of this report is to produce data and insights about the way in which Brazil is applying the international rules included in the International Labour Organization Indigenous and Tribal PeoplesConvention, 1989 (No. 169); United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007, as well as other relevant human rights documents. Its main source is the qualitative and quantitative data availableon the Indigenous Navigator (IN).The Indigenous Navigator was created to help different interest groups as well as Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities monitor the realization of Indigenous Peoples’ rights in different all countries.

While substantial progress has been made in Brazil in the last 20 – 30 years towards the formalization of Indigenous rights and the actual implementation of such rights in different areas, we would like to highlight that the country has a very fragile institutional framework and it is subject to pressure by different interest groups particularly, economic ones. The most evident example of this was the recent Bolsonaro administration, which disregarded rights that were well-established in the public administration. Another aspect to bear in mind is the fact that the composition of Brazil’s current National Congress is mainly conservative and against recognizing Indigenous rights, especially, those rights included and detailed in C-169. This may affect their current set of rights negatively.