"Swiss pledge to stop illegal gold imports from Brazil Indigenous reserves", 27 June 2022

...[T]hose refineries have just signed and made public a position statement condemning illegal gold mining and pledging “to trace and identify” the metal’s movements from its sources, potentially staunching the import of gold illegally taken from Indigenous territories in the Brazilian Amazon...

The non-binding document was drafted in association with an Amazon delegation — independent of the Brazilian government — that met with top Swiss gold refiners in Bern in May. That delegation of Indigenous and traditional leaders, lawyers and researchers emphasized how the refiners play a crucial role in an illicit gold supply chain...

“The gold arrives here [in Switzerland] full of blood. Along with the Brazilian State, you who buy the gold are responsible for deaths in our territories,” declared Maria Leusa Munduruku, president of the Munduruku Wakoborũn Women’s Association...

Indigenous activist Maria Leusa has suffered reprisals for her fight against illegal mining, with her house and parts of her village burned in 2021 by wildcat miners, known as garimpeiros...

The Munduruku Indigenous Territory, where Maria Leusa, lives is among the most affected by illegal gold extraction...

Munduruku health has also been severely impacted as a result of mercury pollution in local rivers...

Illegal gold mining is also seriously harming forests, rivers and human health in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory...

The Yanomami way of life is being brutally disrespected, said the Indigenous lawyer at the Swiss meeting, who recounted the case of a 12-year-old Yanomami teen who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by miners.

The detailed study is now enabling the MPF to prosecute the gold purchasers, FD’Gold, Carol and OM, for trading in illegally extracted gold...