The land right of indigenous peoples in Brazil: among insufficiencies and potentialities

Abstract

The indigenous peoples in Brazil have conquered many rights with the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution. As the most critical right for their survival as peoples, the land right was guaranteed by the constitution next to implementation instruments. Throughout four decades, many indigenous lands were established by the demarcation procedures, reserving approximately 14% of the Brazilian territory. Although this represented a great accomplishment, there are still numerous indigenous lands to be demarcated, and the rate of violence against the indigenous territories is on a continuous rise. This paper seeks to report the patterns of illegitimacy and insufficiency in the legal norms concerning the demarcation of indigenous peoples’ lands in Brazil. The sustained hypothesis is that: due to the lack of effectiveness and materialization perceived among the territorial rights of the indigenous peoples in Brazil, the constitutional land right and the official procedure of indigenous land demarcation unravel both their insufficiencies and potentials.