September 17, 2013
EU beef imports affect uncontacted Indians land
In order to make way for cattle destined for the European market, forest inhabited by uncontacted Indians in Paraguayis being destroyed.
Brazilian company Yaguarete Pora has been felling forest in the north of Paraguay, the ancestral home of Ayoreo Indians, where some of the Ayoreo are uncontacted and are continually forced to flee from cattle ranchers who have taken over much of their land.
Yaguarete is part of the UN Global Compact, an initiative set up to encourage companies to abide by principles that ''support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights''.
But Yaguarete''s work places the lives of the uncontacted Ayoreo in extreme danger because uncontacted Indians have no immunity to diseases brought by outsiders and could be wiped out if contact occurs with company workers.
A recent report to the UN body reveals that Yaguarete has already begun cattle ranching on the uncontacted Indians'' land, and that some of the beef is being exported to Europe, but makes no mention of the presence of the uncontacted Indians.
Survival International has requested the European Commission to investigate its beef imports from the company.
In an attempt to ''greenwash'' its work, Yaguarete has set aside part of its land as a ''private nature reserve''. Yet the land is the ancestral property of the Ayoreo, and they have been claiming title to it for more than 20 years. Many Ayoreo who have already been forced out of the forest have died in recent years, and many others are terminally ill.
Paraguay''s forests are being rapidly cleared for cattle farming that supplies European, African, Russian and North American markets.
Survival International''s director, Stephen Corry, said, ''Yaguarete is flagrantly ignoring the noble principles to which it has signed up, and the UN is seemingly powerless to intervene. This isn''t the first time the company has been caught doing this- when will Paraguay stop putting Indians'' lives at risk?''