Amnesty Faults Brazil on Indian Rights

[Township75]

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - The government has failed to guarantee the right of Brazilian Indians to their land, leaving them vulnerable to violence and poverty, the rights group Amnesty International charges in a new report.

The 32-page report "Foreigners in Our Own Country," to be formally released Wednesday, focus on alleged problems Indians face stemming from what the right group said was the failure to fully demarcate tribal lands.

"The removal of indigenous people from their tribal lands leaves them vulnerable to violence and chronic poverty and threatens their very existence in Brazil," Dr. William F. Shulz, executive director of Amnesty International U.S.A., said in a statement.

Brazil officials declined immediate comment. Pedro Rocha, a spokesman for the Federal Indian Bureau, said the government would not respond until it had seen the report.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=589&ncid=734&e=1&u=/ap/20050330/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/brazil_indian_rights