Government creates committee against Covid for indigenous people after almost 2 years of pandemic

After almost two years of the coronavirus pandemic, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) created a committee to combat Covid-19 for indigenous peoples.

The measure comes amid a decision by the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Luís Roberto Barroso, in July 2020, forcing the government to create a plan for this population.

Three times since then, the measures presented by the government were rejected by the minister.

Barroso responded to a lawsuit (ADPF) in the Supreme Court, obliging the government to implement, among other things, sanitary barriers and a situation room, with the participation of the PGR (Attorney General’s Office) and indigenous leaders.

According to the Palácio do Planalto, the collegiate created this Monday (10) “is responsible for the governance and monitoring of actions to combat the Covid-19 pandemic aimed at indigenous peoples, notably those isolated and with recent contact”.

It will be managed by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.

The creation of the Management Committee of Plans to Combat Covid-19 for indigenous peoples will be published in the Official Gazette of the Union on Tuesday (11).

A report released at the end of October 2020 by Cimi (Indigenist Missionary Council) showed that 2020 was a tragic year for indigenous peoples in the country, whose situation was exacerbated by the pandemic.

In the document, the organization states that there has been an increase in the number of cases of violations of indigenous lands, illegal exploitation of resources and murder of members of different peoples in the country.

According to records from Apib (Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil), more than 43,000 indigenous people were infected by the disease last year and at least 900 died.

“In many villages, the pandemic took the lives of elders who were true guardians of the culture, history and knowledge of their people, representing an inestimable cultural loss”, says the report.