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U.N. rights boss urges Brazil to preserve Amazon from mining

FILE PHOTO: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet holds a news conference at Centro Cultural Espana in downtown Mexico City, Mexico April 9, 2019 REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights chief Michele Bachelet called on Monday for an investigation into the murder of an indigenous leader in Brazil last week and urged the Bolsonaro government to reconsider its proposal to open up more of the Amazon area to mining.

In a statement, Bachelet said that the murder of Emyra Waiapi in Amapa was a "disturbing symptom of the growing problem of encroachment on indigenous land - especially forests - by miners, loggers and farmers in Brazil".

"I urge the Government of Brazil to act decisively to halt the invasion of indigenous territories and ensure the peaceful exercise of their collective rights to their land," she said, adding that deforestation exacerbates climate change.

FILE PHOTO: An illegal wildcat gold mine, located on an area of deforested Amazon rainforest, is seen near the city of Castelo dos Sonhos, Para State, Brazil June 22, 2013. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: An illegal wildcat gold mine, located on an area of deforested Amazon rainforest, is seen near the city of Castelo dos Sonhos, Para State, Brazil June 22, 2013. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, Editing by William Maclean)

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of a deforested plot of the Amazon at the Bom Futuro National Forest in Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil, September 3, 2015. REUTERS/Nacho Doce
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