Joênia Wapichana

Joenia Wapichana (born Joenia Batista de Carvalho; born 20 April 1974) is the first Indigenous lawyer in Brazil and a member of the Wapichana tribe of northern Brazil. After taking a land dispute to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Wapichana became the first Indigenous lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court of Brazil. She is the current president of the National Commission for the Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

She was elected federal deputy for the state of Roraima, from the party list of the Sustainability Network (REDE), in the 2018 general election. Batista de Carvalho is the first Indigenous woman elected to the Chamber of Deputies and the second Indigenous federal deputy since the election of Mário Juruna in 1982.

After Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office as President of Brazil, she became the president of FUNAI and also the first Indigenous woman to assume the role.

Early life Joenia Wapichana is a member of the Wapichana people.