The area affected by the garimpothe Brazilian term used for these gold mines exploited in an artisanal way, increased by 46% last year compared to 2020 in Yanomami territory, to reach 3272 hectares in total.
This is the largest annual increase since records began in 2018, according to the Hutukara Yanomami Association (HAY) report.
We’re having the worst time since [le territoire de] this indigenous community was demarcated and homologated 30 years ago
denounces this association in its document of more than one hundred pages based on satellite images and interviews with indigenous populations.
The territory of the Yanomami extends over 9.7 million hectares in northern Brazil, near the border with Venezuela, and is believed to be home to more than 29,000 indigenous people of this ethnic group.
An aerial view showing a village of the Yanomami indigenous community of Irotatheri located in the heart of the Amazon on the border of Brazil and Venezuela.
Photo: Reuters/Carlos GarcÃa Rawlins
Beyond deforestation and river pollution, gold panning in Yanomami territory has caused an explosion in cases of malaria and other infectious diseases
adds the report, also referring to a frightening increase in violence against Indigenous people
including rape.
Testimonies quoted by the document evoke the difficulties encountered by the indigenous populations to feed themselves due to the destruction of the tropical forest where they normally find their means of subsistence. Some find themselves forced to work in illegal gold mines in exchange for meals.
The testimonies also tell that artisanal gold miners, often linked to organized crime, ask families to deliver young girls to them for sex in exchange for food.
Among the Yanomami, families generally live in communal houses.
Photo: Getty Images/UniversalImagesGroup
Yanomami women see miners as terrible threats
insists the association HAY, which denounces a climate of permanent terror
.
Brazilian government authorities did not respond to requests from Agence France-Presse (AFP) to comment on the report.
Federal prosecutors have said they will investigate the report’s allegations with a view to filing possible criminal charges. They also indicated that they had already filed an appeal last month to force the government to resume protection actions and police operations against illegal miners in Yanomami territory
.
Illegal gold panning has intensified in recent years in the Amazon with the surge in the price of gold. This activity caused the deforestation of 125 km2 in 2021.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Photo: Reuters/BERNADETT SZABO
Far-right president Jair Bolsonaro is accused by indigenous defense associations of wanting to quickly get parliament to approve laws aimed at authorizing mining activities in indigenous territories.
