Silva ratified the Federal Supreme Court ruling to establish the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Reserve in the state of Roraima. After many years of violence and land disputes in this region, this action called for the demarcation and titling of land for a number of indigenous communities, including the Macuxi, Wapichana, Taurepang, Ingaricó and Patamona peoples, as well as the expulsion of non-indigenous settlers and rice farmers from the territory. Still, the Brazilian government has not fully implemented this decision. In August 2006, in response to an urgent request from the Indigenous Council of Roraima, and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Brazilian government was urged to take action and follow up on this decision.
In response to international pressure, the government has begun to recognize its failings in managing indigenous lands and the limited scope of its actions in indigenous communities. Instead of mitigating bad relations with indigenous communities and their advocates, these limited actions have led to new concerns regarding the abandonment of indigenous people by the nation. The demarcation of indigenous land still has not been completed and is a continuing source of conflict. However, the land titling process is moving forward more quickly than in the past, in part due to pressure from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which recommended in 2004 that the demarcation of all indigenous lands be completed by 2007, and that the state party adopt urgent measures to recognize and protect the right of indigenous peoples to own, develop, control and use their lands, territories and resources.
Despite these advances, problems continue throughout the reserves, in part, because the state environmental protection agency has only one staff member for every 2,000 sq km of protected land. FUNAI's activities have been severely curtailed in the past due to funding problems, and a lack of political will to register approximately 11 per cent of the nation's land to the indigenous community, which represents less than 1 per cent of the population. Where land has been demarcated, the exclusive rights of indigenous peoples to these resources is recognized under Article 231 of the constitution.
Many indigenous peoples continue to be threatened by illegal exploitation and colonization. For example, lengthy campaigning achieved the demarcation of a reserve belonging to the Yanomami, but no government action was taken to uphold the integrity of the reserve. In 1993 Yanomami continued to be the victims of premeditated attacks by illegal gold prospectors.
In the face of government failure, indigenous peoples have formally organized themselves through civil society organizations to defend their territory and their identity. There are currently over 250 registered indigenous non-governmental agencies in the greater northern region of Brazil, which is 20 times the number of groups registered ten years ago. These organizations have gained access to international sources of funding to support development activities in their communities and have conducted their own census reports.
President 'Lula' da Silva has alienated indigenous peoples in two ways. His embracing of neoliberal economics and agri-business has stalled many of the land titling actions, leaving his government with, arguably, Brazil's worst indigenous rights record since the military regimes left power in 1985. The 2005 'Indigenous April', inspired by the 2004 Landless Workers Movement (MST), drew attention to land needs and put pressure on the government to demarcate and title new reservations, as it is now obliged to do by the constitution.
In July 2005, after much delay, Brazil awarded land title in a violently disputed case in Roraima State to the Macuzi, an indigenous group near the Guyanese border actively involved in agriculture and cattle raising. However, violence and killings continue to mark relations between indigenous peoples and landowners. In addition, and clearly linked to the demands for land and 