Indians launch petition against draft law facilitating theft of children

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A group of Brazilian Indians have launched a petition against a draft law that would facilitate the theft of Indigenous children by evangelical missionaries.

The draft law, backed by missionary organization ‘Youth with a Mission’, would allow the Brazilian authorities to remove Indigenous children from their families and communities if suspicions of ‘harmful traditional practices’ were raised.

‘Youth with a Mission’ is using a film implying that infanticide is widespread among Brazilian Indigenous peoples to drum up support for the law. The film, ‘Hakani’, has been watched by more than 450,000 people on YouTube.

In fact, infanticide among Brazilian Indians is very rare.

The Indians say that evangelical missionaries are taking children from Indigenous communities on the pretext of ‘saving’ them from infanticide.

In a letter addressed to the human rights commission of the Chamber of Deputies in the Brazilian congress, the Yawalapiti and Mebengokré Kayapó Indians urge them not to approve the law, saying it is destructive and intrusive.

They call for ‘Youth with a Mission’ to stop removing Indigenous children from their communities and putting them up for adoption.

Sign the petition here