Kuna and Emberá Indigenous Peoples vs. Panama: and the Right to Collective Property

Abstract

The Inter-American Court analyzes the scope and content of the obligation of reparation of indigenous peoples when it has been determined that the restitution of ancestral lands and territories is not possible, and establishes the protection of collective indigenous lands to the "alternative" lands assigned as compensation for the displacement of these indigenous peoples by the State. The above, in the context of the displacement of the Kuna indigenous peoples of Madungandí and Emberá of Bayano due to the construction of the Bayano hydroelectric complex and their subsequent resettlement in alternative lands. The Court, consistent with its jurisprudence, points out that indigenous and tribal peoples have the right to effective and expeditious administrative mechanisms to protect, guarantee and promote their rights over indigenous territories, through which the processes of recognition, titling, demarcation and delimitation of their territorial property can be carried out. Therefore, the Court declares the State of Panama internationally responsible for the violation of the right to indigenous collective property; for the failure to comply effectively and in a timely manner, and for the sustained and unjustified delay in delimiting, demarcating and titling the lands assigned to these peoples; as well as for not having guaranteed the effective enjoyment of the collective property title of the Piriatí Emberá community by granting a title to private lands to a non-indigenous third party within the lands in the process of being assigned to this community.