Foundation, Laureate Condemn Killings of Landless Workers in Brazil

On 7 April, two members of 1991 Right Livelihood Award Laureate MST Landless Rural Workers Movement were killed by security forces. The killings took place on public land previously exploited by the Araupel lumber and wood-products company using falsified land titles. A group of 25 workers camped there were fired upon by police and Araupel security guards, according to reports by MST.

This attack is only the latest incident of violent territorial conflict in Brazil, where landless rural workers have long been fighting to gain legal access to land and equitable reform in a county where some 2 percent of the population owns 60 per cent of all arable land. The Right Livelihood Award Foundation joins MST in condemning these killings in the strongest terms and calling for international attention to this issue. Read the press release in English, Spanish, and Swedish.