Keite Camacho
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The executive secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Luiz Paulo Barreto, participated, yesterday (21), in the seventh meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) to form a consensus over the American Declaration of Indian Rights.

At the meeting, which was held in the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Barreto, as representative of the Brazilian government, said that there are protection laws capable of ensuring the effective occupation of lands by the Indians. "But we still have to advance much further in the social inclusion of indigenous communities, in order to avert conflicts," the secretary affirmed.

"The next step is to guarantee self-sufficiency on Indian lands: independence of government resources, so that, on their own land, Indians can derive their own subsistence and develop, developing their culture, too."

Barreto hopes that this seventh meeting of the OAS can reach a consensus on the items over which differences of opinion still exist. Moreover, that the debates evolve to the point where the declaration can be terminated by the end of this year.

The American Declaration of Indian Rights will reiterate commitments endorsed by the member States of the United Nations and the OAS. This is the first time that Brazil is hosting a meeting to discuss the document. The meeting will run through Saturday (25).

Translation: David Silberstein