A brutal attack on an indigenous tribe in Brazil has left several injured, including a man who had his hands hacked off. Indigenous groups have seen a steady deterioration of protection under the conservative government.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Peres
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The Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) on Monday reported that 13 members of the indigenous tribe Gamela sustained serious injuries during an attack by armed men in the northern Brazilian state of Maranhao.
The armed men opened fire on the group of indigenous Brazilians, leaving several of them injured. At least one member of the tribe had his hands hacked off.
The Gamela tribe members came under attack while leaving contested land recently reclaimed from cattle ranchers. Cimi said at least three remain hospitalized, but more may have been injured in the attack and later fled the scene.
"We are afraid that new attacks can happen at any moment," said a Gamela tribe member cited in the report anonymously due to security reasons. "The police are saying that it wasn't an attack, but a confrontation. We can barely defend ourselves. Look at what happened."
According to a government statement, Brazil's Justice Ministry sent federal forces to prevent an escalation of violence and aid state authorities with investigations into the incident involving farmers and "supposed indigenous people."
'Threats and violence'
In Brazil, land disputes involving indigenous groups have frequently turned violent. Nine members of an indigenous tribe in the southern state of Mato Grosso were shot, stabbed and killed in April over a reported land dispute with developers.
Last year, 61 people were killed in violence stemming from land disputes, according to the Brazil-based Pastoral Land Commission of the Catholic Church.
"Rural activists and indigenous leaders involved in conflicts over land continue to face threats and violence in Brazil," Human Rights Watch said in its 2017 World Report.
Activists have alleged a steady decline in state protections under the conservative government of Brazilian President Michel Temer.
Focus on Indigenous Peoples
This week, the first United Nations Conference on Indigenous Peoples was held in New York. Our photo gallery brings you a few snapshots of tribal communities around the world.
Image: picture-alliance/Sandra Gätke
The Kayapó
The United Nations estimates that indigenous peoples make up more than 5 percent of the world's population, some 370 million people. Despite the seeming tech-savviness of this member of the Kayapó tribe in Brazil, native peoples are among the planet's most disadvantaged and vulnerable.
Image: AP
The Inuit
From the indigenous Inuit in Arctic regions such as Greenland (pictured here) to the Maya peoples of Mexico and Central America to nomadic tribes in Africa or 'Adivasi' or tribal groups in India, indigenous people represent remarkable diversity - more than 5,000 distinct groups in some 90 countries.
Image: Getty Images
The Berbers
The Berbers, considered the orginal indigenous group in northern Africa, have for centuries fought to prevent their language and culture from being swamped by Arabic influences. Most numerous in Morocco (pictured here), they are scattered across nine countries. Many speak Tamazight, which belongs to the Afro-Asiatic family and is related to ancient Egyptian and Ethiopian.
Image: Getty Images
The Waorani
The Waorani live in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. In recent decades, many of them have shifted from a hunting and gathering society to live in forest settlements in the Yasuni National Park. But some communities continue to reject all contact with the outside world and live in isolated areas, using spears and poison-dipped darts to hunt monkeys and birds.
Image: AP
Conserving biodiversity
The vast majority of the world's biological diversity is found on indigenous peoples' lands. Though the history of western conservation is marred by mass evictions of native peoples from their homelands, environmentalists are increasingly acknowledging the role of their traditional ecological knowledge to help preserve biodiversity.
Image: Survival International
The Dongria Kondh
Though increasingly organized, many indigenous groups struggle to remain on their ancestral lands and protect their way of life. Development projects such as dams and roads have ended up displacing millions of tribal groups, many of whom have seldom seen the fruits of economic growth. In Orissa in India, the Dongria Kondh have resisted British company Vedanta's plans to mine their sacred hills.
Image: Survival International
Access to education
Indigenous women and girls, in particular, face difficulties in accessing quality education. Several intiatives such as by children rights' group, Plan, in the Cusco region of Peru (pictured here) are helping to develop programs that take into account the linguistic and cultural sensibilities of indigenous peoples.
