At the Service of Human Rights - The Contribution of the Human Rights Bodies of the OAS to the Protection of Indigenous Peoples' Communal Property

Abstract

This article provides an exploration and a comprehensive account of current legal developments as regards the application of underlying prin-ciples (e.g. the pro homineprinciple) of the Inter-American human rights systemand standards with reference to indigenous peoples’ collective rights to ancestral lands and territories. The study covers various aspects of the concept of property as interpreted and elaboratedby the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in their respective case law. In addition, the author examines the issue of effectiveness of the OAS system with reference tothe supervision of the executionof the IACtHR judgments by the respondent states. The essay also reveals the difficulties and some problems encountered by the state parties to the American Convention on Human Rights in the area of theircompliance with and implementation of international judgments on the domestic level. The author’s aim is, furthermore, to raise the readers’ awareness about the need and significance of greater interaction and cross-fertilization between the jurisprudence and other activities of interna-tional supervisory human rights bodies for the evolution of human rights law as well as for the progressive development of international law in general