BRA527 - Hutukara Davi and Mauricio visit to the UK - awareness raising

General

This project is to support an awareness raising visit from Davi and Mauricio, from CAFOD partner Hutukara Yanomami Association (HAY), from 20th - 30th September 2014, including media interviews, a meeting with Evan Cornish Foundation, public talks and community visits to the CAFOD diocesan offices of Hexham and Newcastle and Lancaster. The trip aims to raise awareness of the rights violations the Yanomami and Ye'kuana people face living in the Amazon, and the support that communities in England and Wales can give to overcome these challenges. International awareness and support is paramount at this time, as both Davi and Mauricio are currently receiving death threats from armed men allegedly hired by goldminers operating illegally in Yanomami land, and a new mining bill is proposed in Brazilian Congress which if passed in 2015 will have detrimental impacts on Yanomami territory. The trip also ties in well with CAFOD's climate change campaign launch so that partners' voices and experiences can be represented in communications to supporters and they can take part in the climate change march in London, scheduled for 21st September 2014. Outputs of this project include: Local actions such as fundraising, campaigning and awareness raising activities by Diocesan offices and communities in the North and North East of England; local and national media coverage on the key threats faced by the Yanomami and Ye'kuana people in Brazil; and potential joint campaigning actions with Survival International after their visit. This project is closely aligned with the indigenous support programme (BRA-13-02) objective: to contribute to the full acknowledgement and implementation of the collective rights acquired by the Brazilian indigenous people and to improve sustainable territorial management and protection practices and strategies; and outcome 1: Awareness is raised on the themes of land management and climate change and practical experiences are shared in indigenous communities living in Roraima and Médio Solimões; and outcome 2: Indigenous communities increase their knowledge, are mobilised, and with their allies manage to face the threats to their constitutional rights and the construction of large-scale projects. This trip builds on the previous visit by Davi Yanomami to the UK in June 2009 hosted by CAFOD, where he visited the Hexham and Newcastle Diocese to take part in the Pilgrimage to Holy Island and undertook a number of interviews to raise awareness of climate change impacts and Yanomami and Ye'kuana rights violations.