Cultural Rights

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Africa Regional Social Rights Litigation Workshop: 12-14 March 2012, Johannesburg South Africa

Over the last decade, the legal opportunities for claiming economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights have greatly increased in many parts of Africa. This can be seen in the growing use of litigation strategies amongst civil society, increased legal mobilisation of...

Case of the Indigenous Community Xákmok Kásek v. Paraguay

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.

Amparo No. 631/2012 (Independencia Aqueduct)

In 2010, the State of Mexico promoted the construction and operation of a project called “Independencia Aqueduct”, which includes plans to carry around 60 million cubic meters of water from the “El Novillo” dam (located in the Yaqui river) to the Sonora river basin to supply water to the city of Hermosillo, Sonora. The project includes building a water catchment system at “El Novillo”, a repumping station, a steel aqueduct to supply the national water network, and a power transmission line. The purpose of the works is to carry the water from the Yaqui river to the city of Hermosillo, in v

Indigenous Communities in Paraguay and Ecuador Sign Declaration to Promote Enforcement of Decisions related to the Right to Land

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 Endorois community clarifies priorities for land restitution and reparations, advancing implementation of the precedent-setting recommendations of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to Kenya

In 2010, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights issued unprecedented recommendations on the Endorois case, including restitution of their ancestral land, compensation for all the loss suffered, and royalties for existing economic activities on their land...

Head of Department: Mpumalanga Department of Education and Another v. Hoerskool Ermelo and Another

This case concerns a 2009 appeal before the Constitutional Court of South Africa, brought by the Head of the Mpumalanga Department of Education (HoD).

Restituting the land to the Endorois People: a 40-year process

In November 2012, members of the Adjudication Working Group at ESCR-Net —including the Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya), Minority Rights Group (UK), Socio-Economic Rights Institute (South Africa), and Norwegian Center for Human Rights (Norway)—facilitated a strategic meeting with leaders of the Endorois community in Kenya, focused on advancing full implementation of the unprecedented recommendations issued by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights regarding evictions in the Endorois case.

Pueblo Indígena Kichwa de Sarayaku vs. Ecuador

The Sarayaku people form one of the oldest settlements of the Kichwa People in the province of Pastaza in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and include approximately 1,300 people. In 1996, Ecuador signed a contract with the Empresa Estatal de Petróleos del Ecuador (PETROECUADOR) and a group formed with CGC (Compañía General de Combustibles, a subsidiary of Chevron, in Argentina) and la Petrolera Ecuador San Jorge S.A. for oil exploration and exploitation in Sarayaku lands.

Africa Regional Social Rights Litigation Workshop: 12-14 March 2012, Johannesburg South Africa

ESCR-Net together with SERI, the NGO Coalition for the OP-ICESCR and the Norwegian Centre on Human Rights convened a three-day workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa.

National Fisheries Solidarity Organization (NAFSO)

Country:

Sri Lanka

Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work:

Women & ESCR

Corporate Accountability

Social Movements & Grassroots Groups

Economic Policy

OP-ICESCR