Indigenous Brazilians fear surge in violence as ‘land-grab bill’ nears passage

Indigenous people in Brazil are bracing for a surge in invasions and violence on their territories after a controversial bill that could make land grabs easier cleared a key legislative hurdle. The proposed legislation, dubbed the “land grab bill” by critics, was approved in Brazil’s lower house of Congress on Aug. 3, with 296 lawmakers voting in favor and 136 against. Known as PL 2633/20, the bill is now headed for a Senate vote. Indigenous rights groups say they expect senators to begin reviewing the proposal as early as next week. “This bill has an impact because it has put land grabbing as a priority,” said Juliana de Paula Batista, a lawyer with the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of Indigenous and traditional peoples. If signed into law, the bill would allow for the legalization of claims by squatters illegally occupying public lands — including undesignated forests and Indigenous territories still awaiting full recognition and demarcation by the federal government — with little oversight by environmental authorities, activists say. The bill’s success in the lower house represents the latest in a series of blows to Indigenous rights in Brazil. Under President Jair Bolsonaro, fines for environmental violations have dropped to their lowest level in more than two decades, according to a recent study. The president has also promised to open up reserves to wildcat miners and vowed not to demarcate a “single centimeter” more of Indigenous land. Indigenous people say the land-reform bill threatens their…This article was originally published on Mongabay