The Yanomami people live deep in the Amazonian rainforest. Since the Amazon has been first explored and colonized through its rivers, the Yanomami enjoyed partial isolation for a very long time which allowed them preserving their traditional way of living, in equilibrium with their surroundings. Their territory extends from the Orinoco River basin in southern Venezuela to the Amazon River basin in northern Brazil. In the early 21st century their number reaches approximatively 32.000 souls, from which at least 14.000 live in Brazil. Their territory is rich in mineral resources, which provoked since the mod-1970s the continuous illegal invasion of their land by garimperios gold–diggers. The violence and illnesses brought by the intruders led to the deaths of around 1,500 Yanomami people.
In 1991, an area of some 93,240 square km is established as a Yanomami people’s reserve by the Federal government of Brazil. However it barely represents 30% of their ancestral territory. In spite of the legal demarcation there is no adequate protection program for the reserve borders so the presence of illegal miners even increased over the 90s decade.
If adopted, the draft Mining Law on Indigenous Lands No.1610 would allow the legal entry of mining companies into indigenous territory. The application of that law would put the Yanomami peoples at further risk of land contamination and displacement since by 2013 their territory alone was subject to 654 mining requests. The Yanomami people kept mobilizing making their voice heard at national and international levels, notably through the Cultural Survival network. The National Committee to Defend Territories opposed the law but it was still debated by the Brazilian Federal legislators by 2014. The draft law No. 1610 is part of a larger proposal for several Constitutional Amendments and bills contributing to weakening indigenous’ defense of their lands’ rights.