A/HRC/12/34/Add.2 page 10 to influence the content of material that was published or broadcast about them or on their behalf. The Special Rapporteur encourages further initiatives such as the Ministry of Culture’s “Cultural Points” (“Pontos de Cultura”) Programme and Law 11645 (March 2008), which seek to promote public awareness of indigenous cultures and rights, respectively, in the media and the general educational system. 29. At the heart of the discordant attitude in the media are several controversial political and economic issues that shape some of the public discussion. There is an apparent tension in public debate between, on the one hand, economic development and, on the other, conservation of the environment and the recognition of indigenous rights, particularly with regard to land. While there are elaborate and groundbreaking federal programmes devoted to advancing the rights of indigenous peoples over their lands and natural resources, these programmes have not always been understood as being in accordance with the mainstream development policies and objectives of the country. 30. Especially pertaining to large-scale development projects, mining and industrial farming, some officials at the state and municipal levels have expressed concerns that indigenous peoples’ rights may be a constraint to economic development, and have actively pursued a reversal of the gains achieved for the protection of indigenous peoples’ lands and resources. In addition, while legislation is being developed to further advance indigenous peoples’ rights, such as a new Indian Statute, several bills have been introduced in the National Congress to reverse or limit the protections for indigenous rights already established. Brazilian military officials also have a role in the controversy and on occasion have engaged the media in anti-indigenous rhetoric. Some military authorities have publicly criticized the State policy of demarcating large areas of lands for indigenous peoples, especially land bordering other countries in the relatively isolated Amazon region, over purported concerns about security and national sovereignty. E. The Raposa Serra do Sol case 31. Emblematic of the various elements of the controversy over indigenous rights is the Raposa Serra do Sol case, which involved a dramatic challenge to the demarcation of an indigenous territory of 1.74 million hectares. A presidential decree, issued on 15 April 2005, ratified the administrative delimitation and demarcation of the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous land, located in the State of Roraima, for the benefit of Ingaricó, Macuxi, Patamona, Taurepang and Wapichana indigenous groups (adding up to a population of as many as 20,000 people). The demarcation process had been opposed by powerful non-indigenous farmers who had invaded the land to farm rice on an industrial scale and who had punctuated their opposition with violence against indigenous people. The 2005 decree called for the removal of the non-indigenous occupants of the demarcated land within a year, but that removal was resisted by the farmers who further incited violence that culminated in the shooting of several indigenous persons on 5 May 2008. 32. It is noteworthy that such violence has occurred, not just in Raposa Serra do Sol but elsewhere in the country as well, especially in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul (against Guarani people), Maranhão (Guajajara people) and Pernambuco (Xukuru people). There are numerous cases of land and resource rights activists murdered by hired gunmen or private militias commissioned by powerful landowners in rural areas. Land rights activists have suffered