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Not many 13-year-olds speak in front of Congress. Célia Xakriabá wasn’t like most 13-year-olds.
“The Indigenous movement shaped me,” explains Xakriabá, now a member of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies for the state of Minas Gerais.
Passionate about Indigenous education and activism, Xakriabá became the first Indigenous woman to join the State Department of Education of Minas Gerais in 2015.
She didn’t stop there. In 2019, she began working as a parliamentary advisor in the National Congress in Brazil, and in 2022, she was elected as the first Indigenous federal deputy from her state.
Xakriabá advocates for the rights of nature and helps erase the “racism of absence” by ensuring representation for Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples.
“Why have people become so disconnected from the land and environmental issues?” she asks.
“Many seem to think the environment is just about trees, but in reality, we are the environment.”
In 2023, she re-established the Parliamentary Front for the Defense of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and was elected President of the Commission on the Amazon and Indigenous and Traditional Peoples. In doing so, she became the first Indigenous woman to chair a congressional commission.
At COP28, she launched the Planet Caucus, a campaign to defend Indigenous rights, the climate and biodiversity.
“Being part of the Indigenous movement shapes my work because I understand clearly where power comes from: it comes from the grassroots.”
“It’s essential to understand that our rights don’t begin where someone else’s rights end. It’s impossible to envision a Brazil moving forward without embracing its diversity.”
In 2024, Xakriabá won the Congresso em Foco Award for the best deputy in the Climate and Sustainability category.
