Brazil tribe plagued by one of the highest suicide rates in the world
Land losses blamed as study shows Guarani-Kaiowá are 34 times more likely to kill themselves than Brazil's national average
The suicides began among the first generation to grow up on reservations, says ethnologist Tonico Benites. Photograph: Andre Penner/AP
The discovery of an indigenous girl's body hanging from a tree in Bororó de Dourados was as grim as it was familiar for Brazil's Guarani-Kaiowá tribe, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, according to a new report.
Ahead of World Mental Health Day on Thursday, figures from Survival International suggest that the Guarani-Kaiowá are 34 times more likely to kill themselves than Brazil's national average.
This has prompted warnings that a "silent genocide" is under way.
The community of 31,000 people, mostly based in the south-western state of Mato Grosso do Sul, is plagued by alcoholism, depression, poverty and violence after losing its ancestral lands to ranchers and biofuel farmers.
The problem is decades-old, but Survival says the rate has increased in recent years. Since the start of the century, one suicide has been reported on average almost every week.................
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