The Government was urged last night to use its position in the EU and on the UN Security Council to highlight the plight of the indigenous people of Brazil such as the Guarani-Kaiova people, who had been victims of "five centuries of genocide", writes David Shanks.
The call came at the launch of Disinherited. Indians in Brazil, by Fiona Watson of Survival International. The event, sponsored by Trocaire and the Latin America Solidarity Centre (LASC), was attended by tribal representatives, Mr Marcos Vernon and Ms Leia Aquino, who said: "We, the tribal people of Brazil, feel cheated and disinherited. We are extremely vulnerable."
While 11 per cent of land in Brazil is designated Indian land, Indians are considered to be minors in Brazilian law and no tribe is allowed to own land. The author said the Guarani-Kaiova tribe had been hit by a wave of suicide unequalled in South America, with 300 cases over the past 15 years.
When the Portugese arrived in Brazil 500 years ago, there were over 1,000 different tribes and five million Indians living there. Today, 215 tribes have survived and there are only 350,000 Indians left.