79 390 the domestic legal system. States violate the right to equality before the law, equal protection of the law, and non-discrimination when, as in this case, they do not grant indigenous peoples “the protections 391 necessary to exercise their right to property fully and equally with other members of the … population.” 304. Similarly, the Human Rights Committee has referred to the right to equality before the courts, indicating: “a situation in which an individual’s attempts to access the competent courts or tribunals are systematically frustrated de jure or de facto runs counter to the guarantee of article 14, 392 paragraph 1, first sentence [which addresses that right].” In addition, the current UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has noted as part of a context characterized by the lack of effective access of indigenous peoples to the system of justice “the existence of a clear disparity between the institutional response to the complaints against members of the indigenous communities and 393 the impunity of many of the reported acts of abuse, harassment, and physical violence….” 305. In view of the foregoing considerations, the Commission concludes that the State of Panama is responsible for violating its obligation to ensure and respect the rights, without any discrimination based on race or ethnic origin, and the right to equal protection before the law, enshrined in Articles 24 and 1(1) of the American Convention, to the detriment of the Kuna indigenous people of Madungandí and the Emberá indigenous people of Bayano and their members. VI. CONCLUSIONS 306. In view of the considerations of fact and law established in this report, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concludes that: 1. The State of Panama violated Article 21 of the Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) of the same instrument, to the detriment of the indigenous peoples Kuna of the Madungandí and the Emberá of Bayano and their members on having failed to grant just and prompt compensation, more than 40 years after their ancestral territories were alienated. 2. The State of Panama violated the right to property enshrined in Article 21 of the American Convention on Human Rights in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2, to the detriment of the Emberá people of Bayano and its members, for not having providing them effective access to collective property title to their territories; and for having failed to delimit, demarcate, and effectively protect their territories. 3. The State of Panama violated the right to property enshrined in Article 21 of the American Convention on Human Rights, in relation to its Articles 1(1) and 2, to the detriment of the Kuna indigenous people of Madungandí and its members, on having failed to promptly recognize, delimit, and demarcate their territory; and on having failed to provide effective protection for the territories of the Kuna Comarca of Madungandí vis-à-vis third persons. 4. The State of Panama violated Articles 8 and 25 of the American Convention, in connection with Articles 1(1) and 2, due to the failure to provide for an adequate and effective procedure 390 IACHR, Report No. 40/04, Case 12,053, Maya Indigenous Communities of the Toledo District v. Belize, October 12, 2004, para. 155. IACHR, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Rights over their Ancestral Lands and Natural Resources: Norms and Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.Doc.56/09, December 30, 2009, para. 61. 391 IACHR, Report No. 40/04, Case 12,053, Maya Indigenous Communities of the Toledo District v. Belize, October 12, 2004, para. 171. IACHR. Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Rights over their Ancestral Lands and Natural Resources: Norms and Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.Doc.56/09, December 30, 2009, para. 61. 392 UN. Human Rights Committee. General Comment 32 – Article 14. Right to equality before courts and tribunals and right to a fair trial. UN doc. CCPR/C/GC/32, August 23, 2007, para. 9. 393 UN. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya. Observations on the situation of the rights of the indigenous people of Guatemala with relation to the extraction projects, and other types of projects, in their traditional territories. A/HRC/18/35/Add.3. June 7, 2011. para. 65. In addition, see UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Rodolfo Stavenhagen. Human rights and indigenous issues. E/CN.4/2004/80. January 26, 2004. paras. 9-43.