Is COVID-19 being used as a weapon against Indigenous Peoples in Brazil?

To corroborate the Editors' appeal for Indigenous Peoples' right to self-determination as fundamental to ensure their health, we wish to draw attention to the dire situation faced by Indigenous populations in the Amazon, and mainly in Brazil.

Since the conquest of the region by the Europeans, the history of the Amazon has been marked by epidemics that ravaged native populations. These calamities, recent or old, have left an indelible mark in the memory of communities: several Amerindian groups have been completely wiped out by exogenous diseases like measles and smallpox; others have barely surv­ived, with mortality rates sometimes exceeding 98% (ie, worse than medieval plague and Spanish flu). The arrival of the COVID-19 epidemic in Indigenous territories therefore revives painful memories and well justified fears.

Indigenous communities are not vulnerable in themselves; they have been made fragile by the legacy and persistence of colonial practices. In the Amazon, the COVID-19 pandemic has encountered a failing public health system. Worse still, in some communities, the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has started with health professionals infected and not tested before leaving for isolated localities.

Today, according to the Brazil's Indigenous People Articulation, more than 27 000 Indigenous people have been infected with COVID-19, of which 806 have died from the disease (situation as of Sept 15, 2020), giving a mortality rate of 3%. This pan­demic already affects 146 different Indigenous groups across the country.

On Aug 5, 2020, the Supreme Federal Court recognised the failure of the government of President Bolsonaro to deal with the effects of the epidemic on Indigenous communities. The latter was ordered to put in place an emergency plan for the benefit of the Indigenous populations, as well as to adopt the necessary measures to remove invaders from their territories (illegal miners and loggers are not only vectors of diseases, but also cause environmental destruction, in particular through mercury pollution). Faced with inaction from the Brazilian Government, some nations, such as the Paiter Suruí and Parque Indigena do Xingu peoples, have placed themselves in voluntary isolation since March, 2020.

Only two solutions exist to ensure the survival of Indigenous peoples in the wake of this COVID-19 crisis. First, build public health policies in partnership with Indigenous peoples, and which are respectful of local perspectives on diseases and their treatments. And second, respect the right to self-determination recognised by the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In the absence of these solutions, we will watch these Indigenous peoples die from afar.