A legal doctrine that restricted the access of Indigenous people to land in Brazil has been struck out by the Supreme Court.
In the case, the state of Santa Catarina argued that Indigenous groups only had rights to land they had claimed at the time when Brazil’s constitution was publicly announced in 1988.
A lower court initially ruled in favor of the state, saying the Indigenous groups had not lived on the land in 1988.
But nine out of 11 Justices at the country’s highest court deemed this time limit argument unconstitutional, saying the constitution protected Indigenous people’s right to ancestral lands.
