In today's world, the present situation and future perspectives of indigenous people are increasingly affected by projects whose elaboration and determination take place not simply within the scope of nation-states, but rather according to a sets of norms, conventions and directives defined in international forums as well in multilateral agencies. This article focuses exactly on one of these instruments, the 1991 operational directive which establishes the conditions which should be followed in any project supported by the World Bank, considered in a critical perspective which takes into account the historical Brazilian context and the demands and interests expressed by the indigenous groups. The Following analysis covers four basic points: a) it shows the inadequate nature of sociocultural criteria for the identification of indigenous populations, underlining the prejudices involved in the notion of "vulnerability" (frequently associated with judgements on primitiveness and authenticity) and recommends the revival of the procedures for auto-classification proposed in Convention 169 (OIT, 1989); b) it evaluates the protective conditions, and the risk of ambiguous images and expressions (such as "mitigation"); c) it examines the forms of participation foreseen for indigenous peoples, as well as the factors which might limit or even annul them; d) it calls attention to the enormous risk of a widening gap between directives and practices, and indicates some factors which could be responsible for this gap.
citizenship; ethnic rights; indigenous populations