25. The State informs that between 2001 and 2005 FUNAI paid compensation to 296 non-indigenous occupants. The State mentions that the physical demarcation of the area sparked tension and violent incidents that have hampered the removal of non-indigenous occupants. Nevertheless, according to the State, in 2007 all non-indigenous occupations were identified, and only 183 non-indigenous occupants remained to be compensated, as reported in the State’s communication of July 23, 2009. The State indicates that the compensations were to be paid in August 2009. 26. Based on the foregoing considerations, the State holds that the demarcation process is proceeding without delays, although it has not been completed owing to difficulties in connection with the removal of non-indigenous occupants from the identified territory. The State says it is giving high priority to the removal of non-indigenous occupants from Xucuru territory, and that once all the compensations have been paid that removal will be carried out, thereby normalizing the situation denounced in the petition. IV. ANALYSIS OF ADMISSIBILITY A. The Commission’s competence ratione personae, ratione materiae, ratione temporis, and ratione loci 27. Pursuant to Article 44 of the American Convention, the petitioners, as legally recognized nongovernmental organizations, are eligible to submit petitions to the IACHR. The petition specifies as alleged victims the Xucuru indigenous people and its members,5 for whom the Brazilian State has undertaken to guarantee and respect the rights set forth in the American Convention. As a member state of the Organization of American States, 6 Brazil is also a state party to the American Convention, which it ratified on September 25, 1992. The Inter-American Commission therefore has ratione personae competence to consider the petition. 5 The Xucuru are an organized people located in a specific geographical area, whose members may be individually identified. The initial petition presented by the petitioners says that the Xucuru indigenous people have a population of about 7,000 indigenous persons, which is the largest indigenous population in the northeastern region of Brazil. In this regard, see IACHR, Report 62/04, Admissibility, P 167/03, Kichwa Peoples of the Sarayaku Community and its Members, Ecuador, October 13, 2004, para. 47; and I-A Court. Case of the Mayagna (Sumo) Awas Tingni Community v. Nicaragua. Merits, Reparations, and Costs. Judgment of August 31, 2001. Series C No. 79, para. 149. 6 Brazil is a founding member of the Organization of American States; it signed the OAS Charter in 1948 and deposited its instrument of ratification in 1950. 9