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Avoided Deforestation (REDD) and Indigenous ... - Amazon Fund

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The Brazilian Civil Code of 2002 also digressed from the guardianship regime of the<br />

previous Civil Code of 1916 by transferring this issue to a future specialized law. 34<br />

In view of this new perspective of the Brazilian Federal Constitution <strong>and</strong> considering that<br />

the Brazilian Indian Statute has not been formally revoked, it shall be interpreted in accordance<br />

with the current Constitution regime. Any provision of the 1973 Statute which conflicts with the<br />

1988 Constitution is no longer valid.<br />

With regard to Brazilian Indians’ guardianship, the main provision of the Brazilian<br />

Federal Constitution of 1988 is Article 232, 35 which sets forth that the Brazilian Indians have<br />

rights to sue in order to legally defend their interests. Accordingly, the Brazilian Indians have<br />

been granted independent access to the court system (the participation of the District Attorney<br />

is under the custom legis position, as in several other cases foreseen in Brazilian laws). As a<br />

consequence, the Brazilian Indians do not need to be represented by Funai to exercise their<br />

rights. 36<br />

This means that the Brazilian Federal Constitution changed the extent of the Brazilian<br />

Indians’ guardianship concept of the 1973 Brazilian Indian Statute, since the Funai role, although<br />

still extremely important, is confined to implementation of public policies or to enforcement<br />

activities against violations of the rights of Brazilian Indians. 37 It is important to note, anyway,<br />

that even in the former regime, the participation of the National Indian Foundation (Funai)<br />

as a precondition for a given act to be legally valid was linked to communities that were not<br />

integrated into Brazilian society <strong>and</strong> were incapable of underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>and</strong> defending their own<br />

rights. As established by the Brazilian Indian Statute:<br />

Article 8 - The acts practiced between Brazilian Indians not integrated into Brazilian<br />

society <strong>and</strong> any stranger to the Brazilian Indians communities, when there has not been<br />

assistance from the competent guardianship entity, are considered null.<br />

34 Civil Code of 2002, Article 4, sole paragraph.<br />

35 Article 232: Indians, their communities, <strong>and</strong> organizations have st<strong>and</strong>ing to sue to defend their rights <strong>and</strong><br />

interests, the Public Attorney’s Office intervening in all the procedural acts.<br />

36 We adopt thae position that “generally, the capacity required from the part to the legal proceeding is the<br />

same which is required for the acts of civil life, i.e., to practice the legal acts of substantive law [...]”. Please refer<br />

to Humberto Theodoro Junior, as quoted by Luiz Fern<strong>and</strong>o Villares. Direito e Povos Indígenas [Law <strong>and</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong><br />

People]. Juruá Editor, 2009, p. 60-61.<br />

37 We support the thesis of non-reception of the “guardianship-non-capacity” concept by the 1988 Constitution<br />

Respectively, see Helder Girão Barreto, Direitos Indígenas [<strong>Indigenous</strong> Rights]. Juruá Editor, 2003, p. 42-43 <strong>and</strong> Luiz<br />

Fern<strong>and</strong>o Villares, cit.<br />

136 Av o i d e d d e f o re s t A t i o n (redd) A n d i n d i g e n o u s p e o p l e s: experiences, chAllenges A n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s in t h e A m A zo n c o n t e x t

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