Paraguay

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TierraViva's advocay achieved that the struggle of the Sawhoyamaxa was recognized as one of the most importants of 2014 in Paraguay

Tierraviva has supported the restitution of the Sawhoyamaxa community's traditional lands

The Xákmok Kásek indigenous community, who has originally lived in the Paraguayan Chaco area, filed a petition before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights requesting acknowledgement of their traditional territory. Paraguay sold and split up the land without taking into consideration the indigenous population. The Salazar ranch was founded in the land that had been the home of the Xákmok Kásek community for years.  The community’s ability to survive and to develop its way of life was restricted, and the State failed to fulfill its duty to guarantee the community’s territorial rights.

Thanks to the advocacy actions of TierraViva, Dejusticia and others, on May 21 the Paraguayan House of Representatives approved a law for the restitution of the Sawhoyamaxa lands.

On 9 December, 2013, ESCR-Net sent a letter to the Government of Paraguay to express the Network's collective support for the prompt implementation of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ legally-binding decision on the case the Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay (March 29, 2006), requiring the restitution of the Sawhoyamaxa’s original lands.          

Representatives of the Sarayaku people (Ecuador), Dejusticia (Colombia), and Fundación Pachamama (Ecuador) , with the support of ESCR-Net, came together at meetings organized by the Enxet-Sanapaná people together with Tierraviva (Paraguay) on September 26-27.  The discussions focused on enforcing decisions by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).

The Sawhoyamaxa Community has historically lived in the Paraguayan Chaco. In 1991, the Community started a domestic claim to regain its lands after being forced to leave them. On May 15th, 2001, ESCR-Net Member, Tierraviva, submitted a petition to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. The Commission referred the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on February 3rd, 2005.

In a landmark ruling on the right to restitution of ancestral lands, Sawhoyamaxa indigenous community leaders, Paraguayan officials and local companies have recently signed an agreement to allow the community to return to their ancestral lands.

Country: 
Paraguay
Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work: 
Strategic Litigation
OP-ICESCR

The Yakye Axa community, a Paraguayan indigenous community belonging to the Lengua Enxet Sur people, filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) alleging Paraguay had failed to acknowledge its right to property over ancestral land. Given its impossibility to solve the case, the Commission referred it to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.