Protagonismo indígena em Roraima para efetivar os direitos indígenas diferenciados

rumo a um pluralismo jurídico

Abstract

The objective of this article, focusing on indigenous justice, legal pluralism and self-determination based on field research and analysis that investigates the interface between the state criminal justice system and indigenous justice systems, is to propose that national and international legislation referring to differentiated indigenous rights are a first step on a path to make them effective. The hypothesis is that experiences that open areas of legal and criminal autonomy for indigenous peoples under the framework of legal pluralism are only implemented when indigenous leaders and lawyers exercise their protagonism to bring them into effect. Using the ethnographic method, interviews were carried out with indigenous people in the prisons of Boa Vista, Roraima, and with agents of the prison system, indigenous lawyers, public defenders, police officers and a judge, from 2008 until the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, in addition to examining prison records. The article focusses on indigenous protagonism in Roraima, which aims to create internal mechanisms to deal with conflicts, such as councils of indigenous leaders at the local level, and the commitment of the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) to create Internal Indigenous Regiments, so that communities can resolve internal conflicts and avoid sending indigenous people to overcrowded and violent prisons. Other initiatives include the creation, in 2015, of a jury within the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land, and the reactivation, in 2019, by the Court of Justice of Roraima of the first Indigenous Conciliation Pole in Brazil, installed in 2015, which aims to help resolve internal conflicts without relying on the national justice system. According to current legislation, the incarceration of indigenous people should not happen. The conclusions highlight the fundamental role of indigenous protagonism in decolonizing the judicial system and fully bringing into effect indigenous rights.