Brazil’s top court shelves Indigenous land case, no new date set

Indigenous groups say Brazilian Supreme Court decision will be critical as they seek to defend ancestral land rights.

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended a high-profile land rights case that Indigenous people in the South American nation say is vital for their survival, with no new date for when it will re-take the matter.

The top court is weighing whether a state government applied an overly narrow interpretation of Indigenous rights by only recognising tribal lands occupied by Indigenous communities at the time Brazil’s constitution was ratified in 1988.

Indigenous rights groups say the rule was unconstitutional because there was no timeframe in the 1988 constitution, which guaranteed the right to ancestral lands.