Indigenous Peoples' Rights

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Defensor del Pueblo, doctor Jaime Córdoba Triviño (en representación de varias personas integrantes del Grupo Etnico Indígena U'WA) c/ Ministerio del Medio Ambiente y Occidental de Colombia, Inc. s. Acción de tutela. [ENG]

The Ombudsman filed an amparo action against the Ministry of Environment and Sociedad Occidental de Colombia Inc. on behalf of the U'wa people. The presentation sought the revocation of a license granted to the said company to develop an oil project in indigenous lands, alleging the communities potentially affected by the decision had not been duly consulted before the license had been granted.

Federación Independiente del Pueblo Shuar del Ecuador (FIPSE) c. Arco Oriente s/ Amparo [ENG]

On April 27, 1998, oil company Arco Oriente Inc. signed an hydrocarbon development agreement with Ecuador. Although 70% of the land belonging to Federación Independiente del Pueblo Shuar del Ecuador (FIPSE) was within the area to be devoted to the project, its members were not notified of the terms of the agreement or the related environmental impact. FIPSE, in a Special Meeting of its members, decided to prohibit all individual negotiations or agreements by FIPSE Member Centers or Associations with the company. This was notified to both the State and the company.

Mercedes Julia Huenteao Beroiza et al. Petition 4617/02. Report Nº 30/04 [ENG]

The Mapuche Pehuenche people of the Upper Bío Bío sector, in the Eighth Region of Chile, started a long fight to defend their rights when the Government of Chile authorized the construction of hydroelectric plants that would have deep consequences on their ancestral land and culture.

Case of the Indigenous Community Yakye Axa v. Paraguay [ENG]

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.

Indigenous Peoples and ESCR

Indigenous peoples continue to challenge multiple violations of their economic, social and cultural rights.

Case of the Mayagna (Sumo) Awas Tingni Community v. Nicaragua [ENG]

The Mayagna Awas (Sumo) Tingni Community lives in the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua and is made up of approximately 142 families. Jaime Castillo Felipe, a leader of the community, lodged a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) denouncing the State of Nicaragua for failing to demarcate the Awas Tingni Community's communal land and to take the necessary measures to protect the Community's property rights over its ancestral lands and natural resources.

Social and Economic Rights Action Center & the Center for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria (Communication No. 155/96)

The communication alleged that the military government of Nigeria was guilty of, amongst other things, violations of the right to health, the right to dispose of wealth and natural resources, the right to a clean environment and family rights, due to its condoning and facilitating the operations of oil corporations in Ogoniland.

Länsman et al v Finland, Communication No. 511/1992, UN GAOR, 52nd Session, UN Doc. CCPR / C / 52D / 511 / 1992, opinion approved the 8 November 1994

A permit was granted by the Central Forestry Board to a private company to quarry stone from the Etela-Riutusvaara mountain. Indigenous members of the Muotkatunturi Herdsmen's Committee asserted that the quarrying of the stone and its transportation through their reindeer herding territory would violate their right to enjoy their culture under Article 27 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).