After the widespread disclosure of the inhumane living conditions faced by the Yanomami indigenous people, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for emergency action to assist the community, one of the most isolated in the country.
The plan of the new Brazilian government aims to provide nutritional and health assistance to the Yanomami and ensure security in the territory by vehemently combating illegal mining. Miners and other invaders are accused of causing deforestation in indigenous lands and spreading diseases within the community.
The emergency measure also aims to ensure access to drinking water through wells and cisterns and to measure mercury pollution in local waterways, another consequence of illegal mining.
Among the actions planned to be adopted by federal administration agencies is the creation of an Air Defense Identification Zone (Zida) over the airspace of the territory, which will be the responsibility of the Air Force Command, which will be tasked with taking necessary actions to regulate and control the airspace “against all types of air traffic suspected of illicit activities” occurring in the territory.
Access to the Yanomami territory will only be allowed if provided for in a joint act issued by the Ministers of Health and Indigenous Peoples.
The Yanomami primarily live in the forests of northern Brazil and southern Venezuela.
Brazil Proposes International Action to Ensure Indigenous Health
The Brazilian government intends to present a resolution to the World Health Organization (WHO) that guarantees international action in defense of the health of indigenous peoples. The proposal was announced to the executive board of the organization by Carlos Gadelha, Secretary of Science, Technology, Innovation, and Strategic Inputs of the Ministry of Health.
“I would like to announce our intention to present a resolution on the health of indigenous peoples, a topic never before directly addressed by the World Health Assembly, aimed at guaranteeing their right to health, according to their own demands and under their own administration.”
In his speech at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, the secretary called for support from other member states, the organization itself, and other international organizations to think of a way to “leave no one behind” through appropriate regulation on “a matter of great importance that has been commonly neglected.”
Source: Agência Brasil