Indigenous Peoples and the Inter-American Court: Merits and Reparations

Abstract:     
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has heard a number of cases on indigenous peoples’ rights, ranging from land rights in Nicaragua, Paraguay and Suriname; massacres and extrajudicial killings of indigenous people in Guatemala and Colombia; rapes of indigenous women in Mexico; indigenous persons deprived of their liberty in Honduras; and impediments to political participation in Nicaragua, among others. In each case, the Court has interpreted the American Convention on Human Rights in such a way that the rights contained in it are consistent with the advances of International Law and the domestic law of the States Parties. Concepts such as communal property, traditional language, and cultural integrity are some examples of how the Court has built in the articles of the Convention guidelines that the States must follow in protecting indigenous communal rights in domestic courts.

Two sections comprise this chapter. The first one shows all the case-law of the Inter-American Court by topic or right, in a sort of systematization of the most important standards set by the Court throughout its history. The second section is devoted to the study of the reparations that the Court has ordered in cases of violations of the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples.

Note: Downloadable document is in Spanish.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 134

Keywords: Inter-American Court, indigenous peoples, reparations, Corte Interamericana

Accepted Paper Series