Average number of quilombola deaths will double between 2018 and 2022, says research

Three months after the murder of Maria Bernadette Pacifico, Mother Bernadete, of Quilombo de Pitanga dos Palmares, in Bahia, the National Coordination of Articulation of Black Rural Communities Quilombola (Conaq) and Terra de Direito have published, this Friday (17), a study that shows the growth of violence in the communities traditional. According to the new edition of the survey Racism and violence against Quilombos in Brazilthe annual average of homicides has practically doubled in the last five years, compared to the period from 2008 to 2017.

Mãe Bernadette’s death in August is not included in the study. There is a preliminary count of seven deaths in 2023. Research shows that, between 2018 and 2022, there were 32 homicides in 11 states. According to the study, the main causes of these attacks were land conflicts and gender-based violence.

At least 13 quilombolas were killed in the context of fighting and defending the territory. The entities plan to deliver the study to federal and state executive authorities and state justice departments, as well as the legislative and judicial branches starting Friday.

In the first edition of the research (from 2008 to 2017), a mapping of 38 murders that occurred over ten years (2008-2017) was carried out. The annual average of homicides, which was 3.8, has become 6.4 per year. In 15 years, 70 quilombolas were murdered.

Racism

According to one of the researchers, the sociologist Givania Maria da Silva, coordinator of the national educational collective Conaq, the survey was conducted in the field in the communities themselves. He identifies that the numbers go beyond what is reported by the media and reflect a racist structure in Brazilian society.

The land issue in Brazil is central to the discussion, research bodies say. “When we talk about land policy, we see how this topic is permeated with racism. In Brazil, the impression I have is that talking about land, which blacks own, seems to be even more serious”accentuates.

The coordinator of Terra de Direito, Darci Frigo, underlines that manifestations of structural and institutional racism are the backdrop to the violence. He adds that the slowness of the land regularization process causes violence to increase. Therefore, he explains, it is necessary for public management to act both in combating violence and in actions to guarantee rights. “Not having public policies generates more violence”, opinions.

The states of Maranhão (9), Bahia (4), Pernambuco (4) and Pará (4) have the highest number of cases. “If we were to update, Bahia would be in first place. Mother Bernadette died in the same way as her son. Her son died claiming the territory and she sought justice for the death of her son. It is another right silenced after the murder”he has declared.

Communities as objectives

Mãe Bernadete’s son, Jurandir Wellington Pacifico, 43, also understands that the lack of land title led to his mother’s murder. “The lands of the Quilombola are a source of energy and are also the target of land grabbing and trafficking,” said the cultural manager, who is also the leader of Pitanga dos Palmares. “My mother was a global representative of the cause and she always fought for women’s empowerment”He adds.

Sociologist Givânia Silva believes the research can give greater visibility to the need for federal and state governments to pay more attention to the problem, as there has been a loss of public safety budgets since 2016.

The entities carrying out the study explain that, in addition to homicides, the study provides an investigation into rights violations suffered by quilombola communities where deaths caused by crimes have been identified.

According to the research, in 10 of the 26 communities where murders have been recorded there are no open cases at the National Institute of Agrarian Reform and Colonization (Incra), the agency responsible for land regularization in quilombola territories. In this situation, seven murders (70%) were motivated by land conflicts.

Among the 11 quilombos who have all or part of the title, land conflicts accounted for 27% of killings. The study draws attention to the 1,805 processes open to INCRA for the land regularization of quilombola territories, according to the Palmares Foundation

Protection of defenders

The entities recommend that the State and municipalities develop titling plans for quilombola lands, with concrete annual goals, an adequate budget, and an administrative structure for titling quilombola lands. The investigation reiterates the need to protect human rights defenders.

In this sense, the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship has reinstalled the National Commission for the Fight against Violence in Rural Areas. The group, in a meeting this week, reiterated the need to consolidate the collective protection of indigenous and quilombola peoples.

The commission intends to define a protocol to investigate crimes committed “against human rights defenders and the slowness of actions aimed at agrarian reform and the demarcation of traditional territories which end up increasing tensions and conflicts”.

The group members must meet monthly to prepare a draft law on the national policy for the protection of human rights defenders, communicators and environmentalists. The deadline for completing the works is six months.

The Incra page (the authority responsible for titling quilombola lands) emphasizes that the policy of regularizing quilombola lands is “of the utmost importance for the dignity and guarantee of the continuity of these ethnic groups”. The address provides documents such as monitoring quilombola regularization processes and list of regularization processes for open quilombola territories.

Pain and mourning

Son of Mother Bernadette, Jurandir Pacifico, even in days of pain and mourning, tries to honor the memory of his mother’s struggle. Next year he intends to open an institute named after him with the aim of preserving all of his mother’s cultural and social legacy. Furthermore, he wants to help communities with documentation.

“The institute will be responsible for the development and execution of the technical identification and delimitation report, fundamental for the registration and titling of quilombola lands”, he underlined. This is also how he wants to implement, in practice, what he repeats daily in his community: “Mother Bernadette, present.”