First indigenous attorney in Brazil, first indigenous attorney to argue before the Brazilian Supreme Court and first indigenous woman deputy elected to Brazilian National Congress
Joênia Wapichana (officially Joênia Batista de Carvalho; born 20 April 1974) is the first indigenous lawyer in Brazil and a member of the Wapixana tribe of northern Brazil. After taking a land dispute to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Wapixana became the first indigenous lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court of Brazil. She is the current president of the National Commission for the Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
She was elected federal deputy for the state of Roraima, from the party list of the Sustainability Network (REDE), in the 2018 general election. Batista de Carvalho is the first indigenous woman elected to the Chamber of Deputies and the second indigenous federal deputy since the election of Mário Juruna in 1982.[1]
Joênia was born in the Brazilian state of Roraima and grew up in isolated Amazonian villages like Truarú or Guariba, where traditional ways of life flourished and few of the elders spoke Portuguese. When her parents were brought from their village to register their births and those of their children, a clerk chose the official name Joênia Batista de Carvalho for her identification papers. She identifies herself by her first name and her tribal affiliation as Joênia Wapichana. By the time she was seven or eight, Joênia's father had left the family[3] and her mother moved to the state capital, Boa Vista, seeking economic opportunities.[4] The children were enrolled in school, though three older brothers dropped out to go to work. Joênia completed her high school education in the early 1990s and initially considered becoming a doctor, as she was uninterested in the usual avenue for educated indigenous women, teaching. She enrolled in law school, working nights in an accounting office to pay her way through school.[3] In 1997, Joênia graduated from the Federal University of Roraima (UFRR) as the first indigenous lawyer in Brazil.[5]
Career
Batista de Carvalho began working in the legal department of the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR).[4] In 2004, she filed an action with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, asking them to compel the Brazilian government to officially set out the boundaries of the Indigenous Territory of the Raposa Serra do Sol,[3] which are the traditional homelands of the Ingarikó, Makuxi, Patamona, Taurepang, and Wapichana peoples.[6] In 2005, the Supreme Court of Brazil (STF) ratified the boundaries of the reserve and declared it an environmental conservation area in which native rights were constitutionally protected,[7] but altercations between loggers, miners and the native communities continued.[6] In 2008, Batista de Carvalho became the first aboriginal lawyer to argue before the STF.[8] The case concerned whether the government had the right to divide the lands of the Raposa Serra do Sol into fragmented areas to support claims to the land by prospectors and rice producers. Batista de Carvalho argued that the constitution forbade such divisions and would be a violation of the protections in the constitution for indigenous rights.[9] On 19 March 2009, the STF, in a vote of ten to one, confirmed the exclusive right of the Indians to occupy and use the reserve lands of Raposa Serra do Sol.[10]
In 2013, she was appointed as the first president of the recently created National Commission for the Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.[5] The post was created by the Order of Attorneys of Brazil as a means of monitoring legislation which might impact native rights. The role of the commission is to support and intervene if need be in legal matters of the lower courts or Supreme Court in cases which impact indigenous rights.[11][12]
Parellada, Alejandro (2005). "South America: Brazil". In Vinding, Diana; Stidsen, Sille (eds.). The Indigenous World 2005. Copenhagen, Denmark: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. ISBN978-87-91563-05-8.
Sales de Lima, Eduardo (27 August 2008). "Joênia Wapixana, advogada índia defenderá oralmente a causa no STF" [Joênia Wapixana, Indian lawyer India to orally defend cause in the Supreme Court]. Instituto Humanitas Unisionos Notícias (in Portuguese). São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil: Unisinos. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
"Joênia Wapixana" (in Portuguese). Brasilia, Brazil: Ministério da Cultura. 2 December 2010. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
