MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil: Agrarian reform to focus on women

Margarida Alves became a symbol of the resistance of thousands of men and women seeking justice and dignity

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Wednesday announced during the 7th March of the Margaridas that his government would resume the National Agrarian Reform Program, albeit with priority for rural women in the selection process of families benefiting from public policies, Agencia Brasil reported.

 This demand by the Margaridas for the democratization of access to land and a guarantee of territorial rights is part of the agenda of demands presented to the federal government in June this year. The movement's demands were submitted by around 100,000 women who attended the two-day event in Brasilia.

“This crowns the whole process of mobilization training that we did at the grassroots level. There were many moments. Our agenda was built collectively, with the [march] committee and various partner organizations.” Women's Secretary of the National Confederation of Rural Farmers and Family Farmers (Contag), Mazé Morais said. She is also the coordinator of the 7th March of the Margaridas.

“The march of 2023 - unlike the march of 2019, which was the march of resistance - is now the march of the reconstruction of Brazil and good living,” she also said. “When a woman moves forward, no man moves back,” she added.

The March of the Margaridas takes place every four years to bring the political agendas of rural, forest, water, and urban women to the federal capital.

The new presidential decree on the selection of families who will benefit from agrarian reform changes the previous legislation (Decree No. 9,311/2018). Under the new rule, the score for female heads of household is increased from five to ten points.

“Never before in the history of Brazil has there been such an intense response to the March of the Margaridas and to the demands of the women of our country,” Presidential Secretary Márcio Macêdo said.

“I want to say to the women that we are doubling the score for women, who will have ten points more than men to enter the agrarian reform program,” Agrarian Development and Family Farming Minister Paulo Teixeira also pointed out. Teixeira's office estimates that a total of more than 45,700 families will benefit from the Emergency Agrarian Reform Program. There will be 5,711 new families settled and eight new settlements created. In addition, 40,000 families will have their situation regularized in settlements nationwide.

Teixeira also highlighted the resumption of a public policy that had been interrupted in recent years. “It was eight years ago that no family was settled in Brazil because an agreement by the Court of Auditors blocked the agrarian reform program. And today, President Lula is resuming the agrarian reform program.”

The federal government announced that the National Land Credit Program will benefit more than 1,500 families still without access to land. The program offers easier financing conditions to farmers with little or no land so that they can buy rural property.

The minister also highlighted an increase in financial aid for technical assistance and rural extension to assist rural women and agroecology, which is agriculture focused on preserving natural resources, being socially just and economically viable.

The package announced at the end of the March of the Margaridas includes plans for the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture to create 10,000 productive backyards, with the aim of firstly guaranteeing food security by strengthening family production and also benefiting women by providing them with economic autonomy.

Through the Productive Backyard Program, family farmers will have access to inputs for planting, equipment, and utensils necessary for structuring and managing backyards, as well as technical assistance, cisterns, and marketing. By 2026, the government plans to have 90,000 productive backyards throughout Brazil.

The National Program for Citizenship and Good Living for Rural Women will be carrying out joint efforts to document rural women workers. Issuing documentation is the first step toward land titling, access to credit, and commercialization.

Minister Teixeira also underlined the promotion of dignity and civil, political, and social rights. “We will resume the national program for documenting rural women workers so that they can have their documents and also social security and labor benefits,” he said.

Lula also launched Wednesday the National Pact for the Prevention of Femicides, which is the third of the 13 axes of the political demands from the women participating in the mobilization. The Ministry of Women will coordinate government actions to prevent violent deaths of women due to gender inequality and domestic violence.

Last year there was an increase in all forms of violence against women. In 2022, 1,437 women were killed, a 6.1% increase in the number of cases from the previous year.

In addition to the Ministry of Women, the management committee of the National Pact for the Prevention of Femicides is made up of the ministries of Racial Equality; Indigenous Peoples; Human Rights and Citizenship; Justice and Public Security; Health; Education; Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger; Management and Innovation in Public Services; Planning and Budget, and the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic.

Brazil's Senate approved on Tuesday the inscription of Margarida Alves' name in the Book of Heroes and Heroines of the Homeland.

Since 2000, the march has been named after Margarida Maria Alves, former leader of the Rural Workers' Union of Alagoa Grande, in Paraíba. She was assassinated on August 12, 1983, in response to her fight for the rights of women. Landowners in the region are suspected of the murder. But to this day, the crime remains unsolved.

Margarida thus became a symbol of the resistance of thousands of men and women seeking justice and dignity.

The case of Margarida Maria Alves reached the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS). In April 2020, the commission concluded that the Brazilian state is responsible for the violation of Margarida Alves' rights to life, personal integrity, protection, and judicial guarantees. The report also makes recommendations to the Brazilian state on how to provide full reparations to the victim's relatives; an effective investigation to clarify the facts; and the strengthening of the Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, focusing on preventing acts of violence. (Source: Agencia Brasil)