Last Update: January 24, 2023, 23:31 IST
FILE PHOTO: A village of indigenous Yanomami is seen during Brazil’s environment agency’s campaign against illegal gold mining on indigenous land in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil’s Roraima state April 18, 2016. Reuters/Bruno Kelly
A government report revealed that 99 Yanomami children under the age of five who lived on Brazil’s largest indigenous reservation died of malnutrition, pneumonia and malaria last year
Brazil’s federal police are investigating a “genocide” against the Yanomami people, in which nearly a hundred children of the indigenous group were killed, the justice ministry said Tuesday.
The announcement comes after a government report revealed on Saturday that 99 Yanomami children – all under the age of five – living on Brazil’s largest indigenous reservation died of malnutrition, pneumonia and malaria last year.
Justice Minister Flavio Dino told CNN Brasil, “I have decided to start a new police investigation to find out (if there has been) a massacre.”
“We are of the view that there are very strong indications of neglect of nutritional and health support for these indigenous populations, intended,” he said.
The inquiry will look at actions – and failures to act – by authorities and public health officials on Yanomami land, including potential environmental crimes.
The ministry said officials also found several more cases of children with severe malnutrition, malaria, respiratory infections and other health complications during a visit last week.
Newly inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva described an “inhumane” scene after visiting the community in the northern Amazonian state of Roraima.
According to Dino, the aid infrastructure for the Yanomami is “very precarious”.
Yanomami territory, home to more than 30,000 indigenous peoples, spans 37,000 square miles (96,000 square kilometers) between the states of Roraima and Amazonas.
Lula’s government has set up a department to address community concerns, a pivot of far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who maintained hostile relations with Brazil’s indigenous peoples.
Prior to the announcement of the massacre investigation, a health crisis had already been declared in the area.
According to complaints from indigenous organizations, conditions on the Yanomami reservation have become increasingly violent, with illegal miners regularly killing indigenous residents, sexually abusing women and children, and contaminating the region’s rivers with mercury. Huh.
According to experts, the growth of illegal mining in the Amazon has led to the spread of diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and Covid-19.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)