Indigenous struggles to overturn present-day discrimination and achieve differentiated rights in Roraima, Brazil

Abstract

This article examines affirmations of differentiated Indigenous rights that are present in national and international legislation in the State of Roraima, Brazil, through significant efforts by Indigenous political movements, including activities by Indigenous lawyers. By creating internal mechanisms for solving conflicts, such activists contribute significantly to realising rights present in the Federal Constitution (1988) and the Indian Statute (Law 6.001/1973), and in international legislation such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 (1989). These mechanisms include the setting up, by the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) and local Indigenous leader councils, of written customary laws (regimentos internos) as an alternative for solving conflicts to avoid sending people to violent and overcrowded prisons. The efforts of Indigenous organisations, activists, and lawyers also seek to overturn a commonplace notion of equality before the law, which fails to consider existing inequalities.