Brazil tribe plagued by one of the highest suicide rates in the world

The Guardian (UK)
Jonathan Watts
October 10, 2013.

Land losses blamed as study shows Guarani-Kaiowá are 34 times more likely to kill themselves than Brazil's national average

The suicides began among the first generation to grow up 

on reservations, says ethnologist Tonico Benites. 

(Photograph: Andre Penner/AP)

The discovery of an indigenous girl's body hanging from a tree in Bororó de Dourados was as grim as it was familiar for Brazil's Guarani-Kaiowá tribe, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, according to a new report.

Ahead of World Mental Health Day on Thursday, figures from Survival International suggest that the Guarani-Kaiowá are 34 times more likely to kill themselves than Brazil's national average.

This has prompted warnings that a "silent genocide" is under way.

The community of 31,000 people, mostly based in the south-western state of Mato Grosso do Sul, is plagued by alcoholism, depression, poverty and violence after losing its ancestral lands to ranchers and biofuel farmers.

The problem is decades-old, but Survival says the rate has increased in recent years. Since the start of the century, one suicide has been reported on average almost every week.

Almost all are hangings, with ropes, belts or cloth. Most are young. The latest victim, on Wednesday, whose name has yet to be released, was a 17-year-old girl. Last week, a 16-year-old, in Dourados reserve and a 19-year-old in Amambai reserve killed themselves.

"The principle reason is their lack of land," said Mary Nolan, a US nun and human rights lawyer. "The Guarani people think their relationship with the universe is broken when they are separated from their land. They feel they are a broken people." Many in the community cosmologically interpret their situation as a symptom of the destruction of the world.

As well undermining their spiritual base, the seizure of their land by farmers has disrupted the social structure of the community. Traditionally, disputes between families were settled by one side moving away and starting again in a new territory. But this is no longer possible now that thousands of Guarani are crammed together in camps.

Read the rest here.

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Comment: Suicide rates are on average higher among indigenous peoples - particularly in settler states - than among the general population.

It is a very sad situation that must be addressed at both the national and international levels.

It is not hard to make the argument that the suicide rates are part of the pattern of extinction by genocide.

Onward!