Brazil’s Supreme Court to rule soon on Indigenous land rights

Prior to 1988, Brazil’s Indigenous people were ‘hunted down’, their ‘ears cut off’ by paid killers for big landowners.

Thousands of Brazil Indigenous people adorned in colourful paint, beads and feathers have set up a protest camp outside of the Supreme Court in advance of an expected landmark ruling on whether they can reclaim lost ancestral lands. “This is very crucial” to the Indigenous protesters who are camping out in Brasilia, Al Jazeera correspondent Monica Yanakiew reported on Wednesday. The top court in Brasilia is set to decide whether to recognise Indigenous rights to land occupied prior to 1988 when Brazil’s constitution was ratified, a legal cut-off date sought by Brazilian state governments that are seeking to limit Indigenous claims.