The last hearing of the committee that seeks an agreement on the time frame ended on Wednesday, 2, without consensus among the members. Minister Gilmar Mendes will evaluate a possible extension of the work, but there is no definition yet, according to the minister’s auxiliary judges. The commission has been extended twice. Union representatives have already stated that they will not make a request to postpone the conclusion of the commission.
The debates focused on two minutes – one of them proposed by the minister’s office based on several -month debates on the commission, and the other presented by the Union. The members of the commission were divided between the two texts and there was divergence in almost all points analyzed so far. Without consensus, the text will be decided in the vote.
The purpose of the Commission, made up of members of the parties authors of the actions dealing with the subject and representatives of the Union, States and Municipalities, is to prepare a draft law to replace the time of the temporal framework. The articulation of the indigenous peoples of Brazil (APIB), which represents the people originating in the commission, decided to leave the group in the second hearing and has been criticizing the search for a conciliation.
The temporal framework itself – a thesis that determines that the lands occupied by indigenous peoples can only be demarcated in the promulgation of the Constitution, on October 5, 1988 – is the central point of the law under discussion, but Gilmar has already made it clear that the unconstitutionality of the thesis was pacified by the Supreme and will not be discussed. The minister’s proposal is to put this point aside and focus on a “middle path” in relation to the demarcation procedure.
In February, the minister told reporters that he believes that the text leaving the commission will be approved by Congress if there is “general security that it will be a balanced project” and ensures the interest of the indigenous people and landowners.
