Indigenous Peoples

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The Lhaka Honhat Case Of The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights: The Long-Awaited Granting Of 400,000 Hectares Under Communal Property Rights

July 16, 2020

On 6 February 2020, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court) delivered a judgment in which it declared the international responsibility of the Argentine Republic for the violation of diverse rights of 132 indigenous communities of the Salta province, organised under the Lhaka Honhat Association. This is the first time the Court has condemned Argentina for the violation of the rights of indigenous peoples. The Lhaka Honhat Association demanded the granting of a unique communal property title to the land the 132 indigenous communities have been inhabiting, undisputedly, for at least 400 years. The claim was originally filed in 1991; because of the State’s failure to act, it was brought before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (the Commission), which determined in 2012 that the rights of the indigenous communities had been violated. As Argentina did not comply with the Commission’s recommendations, the claim was presented to the Court in 2018. In its recent ruling, the Court held that the indigenous communities have the right to a unique…

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The Myth and Mayhem of ‘Build Back Better’: Human Rights Decision-Making and Human Dignity Imperatives in COVID-19

May 25, 2020

Human rights were already under siege everywhere around the world before COVID-19.  But there is also a dawning race now against reaching the ‘twilight of human rights law’, due to: 1) authoritarian regimes’ dismissal of the relevance of human rights while using this pandemic to expand and consolidate their power, such as to silence speech,…

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Canada Avoids Indigenous Reconciliation and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

July 3, 2019

If you believe that Canada is a country filled with self-effacing and polite people, you may miss the genocidal violence within its borders. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis have always known that the Government of Canada along with the Canadian provincial governments have deliberately implemented and enabled the continuous annihilation of Indigenous peoples. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered…

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The Ogiek Case of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: Not So Much News After All?

June 16, 2017

On Friday, May 26, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) delivered its long-awaited judgement on the expulsion of the Ogiek people, a Kenyan hunter-gatherer community, from their ancestral lands in the Mau forest. As the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission) did not manage to settle the conflict, it was…

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Mauritius v. UK: Chagos Marine Protected Area Unlawful

April 17, 2015

On 1 April 2010, the UK declared the world’s largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) around the Chagos Archipelago. The Archipelago is one of 14 remaining British overseas territories, administered by the UK as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). In contrast to other British overseas territories such as the Falklands/Malvinas and Gibraltar, BIOT is not on…

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