Comarca Naso Tjer Di

Nature of the Case

Supreme Court case upholding the State’s obligation to provide the Naso people with collective rights to land in the form of a comarca.

Enforcement of the Decision and Outcomes

According to the Center for International Environmental Law, the ruling constitutionally required the President to ratify Bill No. 656, which happened on December 4, 2020. The North American Congress on Latin America says that “the next step is for the Naso General Council to meet and begin establishing new internal regulations that will govern the comarca.”

Significance of the Case

This case signifies the culmination of a struggle the Naso people have been engaged in for over 50 years. In the 1980s, the Panamá Government created, without Naso permission, La Amistad International Park and the Palo Seco Protected Forest as protected areas. Both overlap with the Naso people’s land. Until this ruling, the Naso were one of two indigenous groups in Panamá without any formal recognition of their ownership to the land.

The Court in this case both confirmed Naso ownership of the land in question and solidified the importance of international laws in Panamá’s jurisprudence, as well as the ability to give collective title that incorporates protected lands to Indigenous Peoples.

For their contributions, special thanks to ESCR-Net member: the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy (PHRGE) at Northeastern University.