HUTUKARA YANOMAMI ASSOCIATION

Supporting Yanomami Advocacy

“RF-US is our friend. It found us to help us, and we found RF-US. We like RF, and without her, our fight would be harder. I’m happy because they’re helping teach our sons to work, building the capacity of the Yanomami and our Association.” – Davi Kopenawa, President of Hutukara Yanomami Association

Background

This three-year project was designed to create a strong organization to advocate for the Yanomami people in Brazil and contribute to the permanent protection of their lands. Begun in 2007, this is the second year of the project, which is working to train a new generation of leaders from the Yanomami community to move forward and represent their people. Support for the Yanomami Advocacy project comes from the Rainforest Foundation Fund and Carlos Miele, a Brazilian designer.

Challenges

The demarcation of Yanomami land in 1992 was the result of years of campaigning and helped to bring the issues of indigenous rights and environmental protection to the forefront in Brazil. However, the Yanomami continue to face serious threats from mining, poor healthcare, and ranchers.

At the peak of the garimpeiro (small-scale miner) invasion in the 1980s, up to 40,000 garimpeiros entered the Yanomami Area, introducing previously unknown diseases, causing environmental degradation, and bringing violence to the region. In the early 1990s, the miners were finally expelled by the federal government. Still, miners remain in the area, and communities in the Baixo Catrimani recently complained that their rivers are polluted and unfit for use as a result of this mining activity.

The Yanomami have used every possible opportunity to bring the issue to the attention of the government and the media. While there has been press coverage of the presence of miners, and several meetings were held with the government in 2008, there are no public concrete plans for the miners’ removal.

Malaria is again on the rise among the Yanomami thanks to the renewed presence of the miners, who bring the disease with them and leave open pits of water behind. The situation is compounded by an inefficiently run government healthcare system which was rocked by corruption scandals that resulted in striking healthcare workers in 2007 and 2008. Healthcare remains precarious in the Yanomami Area, given the strikes and lack of medications, and it is one of the Yanomami’s top concerns.

Since ratification of the Yanomami area, a group of ranchers has claimed possession of Ajarani, bringing their case to court and pressing their claims with the state government. Subsequent court decisions reaffirmed that the area is the traditional land of the Yawaripë, a Yanomami subgroup. Despite the court rulings, however, the ranchers have remained in the area, causing a series of problems, including environmental degradation, conflict over resources, use of Yanomami workers for heavy and poorly paid labor, and the introduction of alcoholic beverages to the community.

Due to their prominence, what happens in the Yanomami area is a litmus test for other indigenous areas in Brazil. Given the issues they continue to face despite the demarcation of their lands, the Yanomami have sought to build and strengthen their representative organization, and this project has been a critical part of the process.

Project Highlights

Given their relative isolation and distance from each other, the Yanomami founded a representative organization only recently – in late 2004. They realized that in order to represent themselves effectively and advocate on issues important to them, they needed a strong organization and a trained group of young leaders to manage the organization. This project consists of providing a new generation of Yanomami leaders with practical skills and advocacy skills, as well as highly interactive courses in Portuguese, computers, math, history, environmental management, governmental issues, and indigenous rights.

The association, which is called Hutukara, is now largely managing the project. Three 7-week training courses were held in 2008 for 15 members of Hutukara with teachers and volunteers contracted from various sources, including Brazilian universities. The group also participated in planning meetings and field trips.

At the end of November 2008, a Hutukara General Assembly will take place – the first assembly that the organization will hold as a consolidated organization. One of the goals of the assembly is to engage newly-associated Yanomami communities, bringing together the isolated groups in order to work toward common goals for the good of all of the Yanomami.

Solutions

All of the activities of the project are designed to assist Hutukara in becoming an advocacy initiative that will support the overall goals of the Yanomami people. Despite the many challenges faced by the Yanomami, the project’s efforts have been enormously successful. The trainees are taking on more active leadership positions, both in their communities and within Hutukara. They have begun to claim Hutukara as their own and to represent the Yanomami people at major meetings. More and more Yanomami communities are seeking out Hutukara and becoming active in the organization. The organization is now active in 14 of the 30 major areas in the Yanomami Territory.

Future Plans

It is expected that at the end of this three-year project, a solid group of young Yanomami leaders will be equipped to push the organization and the rights of the Yanomami forward to protect their way of life, as well as the land on which they live.

Your continued support during this final year will provide the Yanomami with the training and initiative necessary to deal effectively with government agencies, work together as a people, and ensure that both their people and their environment are protected.