Supreme Court suspends Funai resolution that restricted indigenous self-declaration

The Federal Supreme Court, through Justice Roberto Barroso, suspended a FUNAI, the federal agency in charge of indigenous matters, resolution published in January that established new criteria for assessing the self-declaration of identity of indigenous peoples for implementing public policies.

The measure was pointed out by several civil society organizations as unconstitutional and, in the context of the pandemic, as a threat to indigenous health, with direct consequences for the population’s immunization policy. “Defining who is and who is not indigenous is not the role of FUNAI and attacks the self-determination of the peoples,” said the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples (Apib) in a statement against the resolution.

The minister’s decision came in the context of the Argument of Noncompliance with Fundamental Precept (ADPF) 709, authored by the Apib and six political parties, which requires the federal government to draw up and implement a plan to protect the indigenous population against Covid-19. In trial since August 2020, Barroso, rapporteur of the case, partially homologated the fourth version of the General Plan for Confronting Covid-19 for Indigenous Peoples, including indigenous people living on unapproved lands and in urban contexts as priorities for vaccination under the same conditions as “indigenous villagers” - the only indigenous group initially contemplated by the federal government among the priority groups for vaccination.