We respect you. We want you to respect us
The Kayapó-Menkrãgnoti people in association with the Instituto Kabu have published their Consultation Protocol. The document details how, when and who is responsible regarding public decisions that affect their lives and land.
By Isabel Harari, journalist at ISA
Even beneath the hot sun, the benadjwyre, menire and the warriors of the Kayapó-Menkrãgnoti people sing and dance as they cross the village square in Kamaú until they reach ngàbe, the house of the warrior, in the center of the village. This is how the meeting began in which more than fifty indigenous people discussed and approved their Consultation Protocol, a set of rules designed to assert their right to participate in public decisions that affect their lives and their lands.
Illegal mining, logging, land fraud and large infrastructure projects impact the lives of the Kayapó-Menkrãgnoti who live on the Baú and Menkragnoti Indigenous Lands, in southern Pará. In this context and without ever having been consulted, they decided to write their rules for consultation. And they are set on enforcing them.
“The government is obliged to consult us before making any decision that affects us or our land. We have to be notified of anything that affects our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren,” the text reads. [Read full text in Portuguese here]
Protocols are the rules that specify how indigenous peoples and traditional peoples should be consulted before any public decision (legislative or administrative) is made that could affect their rights. Construction projects, new laws, formulation of public policies, for example, should be subject to a consultation process. The document states how, when, why and with whom this consultation should be conducted.
“Before the government embarks on any project, they have to consult us. This is what is written in Convention 169 and in the Federal Constitution. Everyone will receive it, everyone will see it, will read it and respect the rule that the government itself created,” indicates Doto Takak-Ire, a Kayapó-Menkrãgnoti leader.
The protocol is based on the constitutional right of peoples to determine their own social and political structure. It is an important guarantee and consolidation of the right to consultation and Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), enshrined in Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), of which Brazil is a signatory, and by the Federal Constitution.
The document was drafted in collaboration with nine villages that are members of Instituto Kabu, an institution created in 2008 by the Kayapó-Menkragnoti with the aim of defending their rights and ensuring the territorial integrity of Menkrãgnoti and Baú Indigenous Lands. “When the kuben (non-indigenous people) come to talk, we will resolve the issues together. We speak with a single voice,” says Tomeikwa Bepakati, president of the Institute.
The Kayapó-Menkrãgnoti decided to make their Protocol spoken, in video form. It is the first in the world. Watch the making off below and access the full version here
Ferrogrão
Railway EF-170, also known as Ferrogrão (Grainrail), stretches over 1,000 km, from the grain producing region of Sinop (MT) to the Port of Miritituba (PA), in an effort to consolidate a new railway export corridor for Brazil through the Arco Norte (Northern Arc).
The path of the railway will impact over 20 protected areas in the basins of the Xingu and Tapajós, including the Baú and Menkragnoti Indigenous Lands. Running parallel to BR-163, the Ferrogrão is expected to intensify land conflicts and worsen the still throbbing socioenvironmental impacts of the highway in the region.
“The kuben from other places are already arriving in this region to deforest, open new businesses, plant soybeans and put even more pressure on our lands. The government has still not consulted us about the railway,” alerts the text of the protocol.
In 2018, cumulative deforestation on a 100 km band surrounding the Baú and Menkragnoti Indigenous Lands reached 32,583.8 km². “Encroachments, division of villages, threats from miners and farmers. This is the danger that the Ferrogrão project brings. We are already seeing an increase in the planting of soybeans with just the announcement of the project,” emphasizes Doto.
Guajba nho pi’ok, our rules
In this document, they lay out, step by step, how the consultation should be conducted. The benadjwyre, which means literally the “owners of speech,” drafted a document that was later developed and discussed in all the villages associated with Instituto Kabu. After a process of refinement and discussion, the final text was approved jointly by the leaders in the village of Kamaú.
One of the rules of the protocol is that consultations can only be held in ngàbe, in the home of the warrior or the meeting house, a traditional space for decision-making of the Kayapó. In other words, in the villages and with the presence of all the leaders of the villages associated with Instituto Kabu. “If the government wants to discuss some proposal it will no longer be in the city. It will have to be on the indigenous lands of Baú or Menkragnoti.” The government can no longer speak to just one leader, it has to speak with everyone,” stresses Kokoró Menkrãgnoti, executive secretary of Instituto Kabu.
Choosing a name for the protocol led to a heated discussion. Eight possibilities for a title in the Mebengôkre language were put on the table: presented by teachers, by menire (women) and elder leaders. After almost an hour of debate, a young teacher presented the translation that was accepted by consensus: “PI’ÔK JAKAM DJA GA ME MỲJJA KADJY ME IMARI KUMRĔJ ME IBÊ KAYAPÓ-MENKRAGNOTI INSTITUTO KABU KUTE ME IJO ỸRỸ JA”.
The care taken in choosing the name of the protocol reveals the importance of translation for the Kayapó-Menkrãgnoti. In one of the points of the document they demand that a translator be chosen by the benadjwyre so that the entire community can understand the discussion and can decide whether they agree or not with the matter being discussed. “We must be sure about the translation so we understand what is being said,” says Kokoba Menkragnoti, chief of the village of Menkragnotire.
With their protocol in hand, the Kayapó-Menkragnoti expect to assert their right to be consulted in the manner they established: respecting their pace and manner of decision-making and their political organization. “The kuben will no longer speak alone. They will have to speak with us and follow our rules. Our rules are in our protocol, which must be seen by the world,” says Bekwyjrati Kayapó, from the village of Kamaú.
Voice and autonomy
The document by the Kayapó-Menkrãgnoti joins another eleven Consultation Protocols created by indigenous peoples and traditional populations in Brazil. Acesse aqui. Each publication, developed autonomously and independently, is an important tool that will help strengthen and ensure the rights of these peoples.
Copies of the protocols of the Wajãpi, Juruna (Yudjá) and the peoples that live in the Xingu Indigenous Lands were passed around during the meeting in the village of Kamaú.
The recent decision that halted operations of the mining company Belo Sun, for example, cited the protocol developed by the Juruna (Yudjá) of the Paquiçamba Indigenous Land. The Regional Federal Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1) ordered that the activities of the largest open pit gold mining operation in Brazil be suspended until a Free, Prior and Informed Consultation is conducted in accordance with the protocol. [Learn more]
Doto Takak-Ire emphasized the importance of the protocols: “This here is in the law. It is our weapon.”
Hand delivered
Kayapó-Menkrãgnoti went to Belém, in Pará, to hand-deliver their protocol to the state government of Pará. Bati Mekragnotire, general leader, delivered the book in the hands of the deputy secretary of environmental regularity management of the State Secretariat of Environment and Sustainability (Semas) of Pará, Rodolpho Zahluth Bastos.
“If you go over this document, you will be attacking the law,” warned Doto, who also attended the meeting. The entourage also went to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office to delivered their Protocol.
