Legal nature of that act would not be a typical one for an ordinance, but for a decree

The Chamber is reviewing the Legislative-Decree Bill 1323/08, proposed by the Deputy Homero Pereira (PR-MT), which stops the declaration of permanent ownership of the Indigenous land Manoki, in Brasnorte, state of Mato Grosso (MT), by the Indigenous group carrying the same name. The Ordinance 1.429/08, by the Ministry of Justice, declared the ownership of the territory and determined the demarcation of the area.

Homero Pereira argues that that ordinance is more than a “simple internal rule”, and addresses subjects of the interest of the state of Mato Grosso, of the municipality of Brasnorte and of the local population.

"We are facing a denaturing of the juridical nature of an ordinance, which must not surpass an internal act of ordination. We are led to believe that the Ministry of Justice is publishing an act whose juridical nature is the one of a decree”, affirms the deputy.

According to his evaluation, that ordinance interferes in the rights of third parties and disregards the right to private property. He considers that, therefore, the rule is subject to a stay through a legislative decree, as provided for in the Constitution.

Tension
According to Pereira, the ordinance trespasses the limits of the Constitution, since it should delimit only the land which is in fact occupied by Indians. “However, under the pretension to assure that right to the Indians, they have demarked land occupied by farmers, resulting in social and economic losses”, he says. The extension of the demarked are is approximately 252,000 hectares.

Homero Pereira also criticizes the National Indian Foundation (Funai) , which, according to his opinion, decides in a unilateral way the procedure on the demarcation of Indigenous lands, and does not consider the interests and the rights of the local population.

According to the deputy, Mato Grosso, such as Roraima, has become the focus of tensions, since domestic and international organizations started to pressure federal government to transform it in an extensive area of environmental and indigenous protection.

According to the data mentioned by Pereira, Mato Grosso has 25,000,000 hectares as declared Indigenous territories, while productive rural activities occupy 11,000,000 hectares.

Procedure
The Bill will be reviewed by the Committees on Agriculture, Animal Industry, Supply and Rural Development; on Human Rights and Minorities; and on the Constitution and Justice and Citizenship. It will then be voted at the House Floor.

Report - Noéli Nobre
Editing - Pierre Triboli
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda