NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR REGULARIZATION OF QUILOMBO LAND
QUILOMBOL@ www.cohre.org/quilombos
No.9 november 2005
Brazil alters legislation on Quilombo ownership regularization Since the beginning of the year 2005, the social action movements have been calling attention to the existence of problems in the processes of issuing title to the Quilombo territories. The slowness of the procedures, and the poor results obtained by the federal government in its policy of regularizing the ethnic Quilombo territories are the main sources of complaint. From data issued by the Ministry of Agrarian Development, it is found that only three communities in the State of Pará were legalized in 2004. In 2005, it is hoped that the processes regularizing ten areas in the States of Pará, Bahia, Maranhão, Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Amapá and Piauí will also be completed. Issuing land titles to the Quilombo territories is frontally contrary to the land monopolization strategies in Brazil. The country displays dense land-ownership concentration rates and the Government development policies do not guarantee the existence of compensatory mechanisms nor of adequate consultation with the Quilombo communities affected with mega-projects. Furthermore, the lack of agility of the instruments which regulate the application of Article 68 of the Transitory Disposition of the Brazilian Constitution (ADCT) makes the problem worse.
As for the Quilombolas, tendentious arguments are advanced to diminish the logic of cultural appropriation of the lands the Quilombolas have traditionally occupied and their right to self-determination. Non-official estimates indicate that over 2,000 Quilombo communities exist today and that all of them together occupy 5% of Brazil’s landmass.
advance because it incorporates rights laid down in the international legislation on human rights for protection of the rights to land and housing, and also by establishing criteria and competence for titling the land. However, some limitations still remain. The legal process is extensive and the combination of administrative and judicial actions, (such as the disappropriation and settlement) take a long time, with high costs and heavy bureaucratic and financial overloads on the communities – most of whom are not familiar with such procedures.
The regularization of the land –ownership situation in the Quilombos territories is a powerful instrument of land redistribution in Brazil and would give an opportunity for self determination and self-support to populations now de- In addition to all this, there is a lot of prived of the means for a dignified ex- imprecision in the criteria used in the istence. (See the Alfredo Wagner de solution of land-ownership problems. Almeida´s article in www.cohre.org/ Although the Decree-Law lists a numquilombos). ber of situations which can lead to a To keep a considerable portion of the conflict on the usage of the land, but is Brazilian black population subject to not objective enough in defining the cridaily relationships where their hold on teria which govern the ´´State Interest“ their land has to be constantly negoti- in relation to the Quilombo territories, ated by informal means, is to ensure the or of the instruments to be utilized in permanence of the traditional elite/cli- conflict situations. ent situation and to condemn these citizens to live in constant uncertainty as to The legislation also does not provide their rights to property and adequate mechanisms for community participation or consultation in the cases of land housing. ownership disputes during the entitleIn this context it is important to analyze ment process. the legislation that establishes the procedures for Quilombo land ownership Also the manner of participation of the Quilombo communities as stated in the regularization in Brazil. Decree-Law is ambiguous. Although it It took about 13 years for Article 68 of is assured during the process of entitlethe ADCT/CF (see above), which guar- ment, it is not stated specifically in the antees rights of ownership of their lands text of the Decree-Law. to the remaining descendents of the original Quilombo communities, to be The DL requires the formation of legallycodified and regulated. Today it is codi- constituted associations of the fied by the Decree-Law 4.887/2004 Quilombo Communities if the entitlewhich substituted the former, and also ment is to be effective. by the Normative Instruction # 20, pub- However, this process is neither simple lished in September 2005. not inexpensive because it requires pro-
Historically, the policies concerning land ownership regularization had a disturbed trajectory in Brazil. The politically less favoured minorities, either due to ethnicity or class, where always left behind in the official programs for the sector. The right to property continues to be the first consideration always supported by the hegemonic rhetoric of the groups who control important areas of The Decree-Law 4.887/2003 is an fessional legal representation and the the administration.
Quilombol@, november 2005
Brazil alters ... payment of registration fees. In addition to difficul- debate and discussion between the various secties with the DL, the recently-revised Civil Code tions of civil society involved in the entitlement has made the requirements for registering civil soci- process. eties and associations more stringent. In this respect, some important steps have been On the other hand, notwithstanding the fact that the taken recently by INCRA to shorten and DL requires the creation of a Management Council speedup the entitlement process. to monitor the progress of entitlement actions, it does not guarantee participation at this level by (Normative Instruction number 20/2005 pubQuilombola communities. Indeed, the DL has many lished in the Resolution number 20 of 19 of Seplimitations, but most of them could be resolved by tember 2005, substituting IN 16/2004).
Alterations on the process of land ownership regularization are analysed Technicians, assistants and the Quilombo communities are still evaluating the recently published alterations introduced by the new Normative Instruction. In this edition Quilombol@ initiates a series of interviews and statements intended to raise questions for discussion and to and clarify opinions heed in the various sectors involved in the procedures for the definition of the quilombo lands. In future editions, we hope to present some new opinions On November 1st 2005, representatives of Quilombol@ had a meeting with technicians José Rui Tagliapietra and Sebastião Henrique Lima, of INCRA‘s Quilombo Coordination Group for the State of Rio Grande do Sul, to discuss the application of the Normative Instructive number 20 published by the MDA/INCRA, on 26th September 2005. According to Mr. Lima and Mr. Tagliapietra there is now a total of 15 administrative processes involving Quilombo land. In their opinion, the changes from the older norms of IN 16 to those of the new IN 20 would present no particular difficulty. However, they both pointed out that the IN 20 requirement that owners or occupiers of the land in dispute be given three days notification of the start of in loco operations would be practically impossible to meet because the field work itself determines the real dimensions of territory. The IN 20 is also silent on the period to be made available for the consideration of the INCRA Technical Report (derived from the field work) and for the possible contestations. They believe, however, that this will be resolved when INCRA accepts the 90-day period for contestation already foreseen in the Technical Report regulations. Another problem concerns the period to be allowed for re-settlement of the non-Quilombola occupants who had been obliged to leave the land because of difficulties in obtaining land-purchase financing or because of the tremendous demand for land claimed by landless rural workers. José Rui Tagliapietra and Sebastião Henrique Lima also stressed the positive innovations of IN 20 particularly the provision of a wider range of legal options which INCRA can now use during the administrative process, the information on alternative methods of land disappropriation to be implanted and introduction of a ´´De-occupation Phase“ even before the issue of the respective definitive land title. They also felt that the inclusion of a requirement for an Anthropological Report within the Identification Report itself would reinforce the scientific arguments for the definition of the run of the lands traditionally occupied by the Quilombolas.
Quilombol@,november 2005
Human Rights
Complaints about Alcântara and Marambaia delivered to UN COHRE took advantage of the recent visit to Brazil of Dr. Doudou Diéne, the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, to deliver a detailed dossier. The document is a report on cases of forced evictions, disrespect of the right to adequate housing and the difficulties of maintaining the ethnic lands of the remaining descendents of the Quilombos of Alcântara, (in the State of Maranhão) and on the Island of Marambaia, (in the State of Rio de Janeiro). Dr. Diéne, who is a Senegalese citizen, was in Brazil in his UN capacity to collect information for the preparation of a report to be presented to the 62nd Session of UN Human Rights Committee. As well as the dossier, the COHRE representatives made some recommendations to
the Rapporteur, as follows: on the need to establish methods of protection against the violation of the human rights of the Quilombo residents at the local level, principally at the municipal sphere; the immediate suspension of evictions of Quilombolas until adequate protection policies have been implanted; and the creation of a system of consultation with the Quilombo communities on projects which might interfere with their rights to adequate housing and shelter. COHRE also called attention to the lack of compensatory and mitigation policies for those Quilombo communities already displaced, and the deficit regarding drawing up policies and regulations of their rights in accordance with the international precepts of Human Rights.
A Cry for the Quilombo territories The Associação das Comunidades Rurais Quilombolas do Município de Conceição da Barra and the Comissão Quilombola de Sapê do Norte (ES) are promoting the first action movement called “A Cry for the Quilombo territory of Sapê do Norte”. The event, programmed for 25th and 26th of November plans to unite 32 Quilombo communities from the municipalities of São Mateus e Conceição da Barra. As well as keeping up the pressure on the Government to issue title to the Quilombo territories in the north of the State of Espírito Santo, the organizers of the event plan to strengthen partnerships with other sectors of the social action movements, and to commemorate the successful closure of the National Black Consciousness Week in the north of Espírito Santo. A march to the centre of the city of São Mateus is also programmed.
Staff Letícia Osório, Sebastian Tedeschi, Emily Walsh, Cíntia Beatriz Muller e Sinara Sandri If you have any comments, or wish to subscribe to the mailing list for Quilombol@, please contact : quilombo@cohre.org If you have more information about National Campaign for Promotion of Ownership Regularization of Quilombos Territories or about other programmes and activities of Cohre Americas, please contact cohreamericas@cohre.org
Request for a copy of a COHRE publication The COHRE publication “Direito à Moradia e Territórios Étnicos - Proteção legal e violação de direitos das comunidades de Quilombos no Brasil” is now available free of charge, in Portuguese. Only the postage charge will be debited to those who order the booklet. If you want a copy, please send a request to emily@cohre.org with the necessary address and postal information – we will contact you on the methods of payment for the postal charges. May we remind you that we have a limited number of copies available so that we will have to deliver on a ´´first-come-first served basis``. We thank you in advance for your interest.
CONAQ has moved! CONAQ (Coordenação Nacional de Articulação das Comunidades Negras Rurais Quilombolas – The National Coordination of Quilombo Communities) is now at a new address: Rua de Santaninha, 157 Centro - CEP 65.010-580 - São Luís (MA) E-mail : conaq@ig.com.br
Center on Housing Rights and Evictions Demétrio Ribeiro 990 / 202 Porto Alegre (RS) Cep - 90.010-313 Tel (x) - (51) 3212.1904 This publication has been made possible with the support of :