traditional territory a private nature reserve, and the action on unconstitutionality filed to redress this situation has been ineffective. All of this represents a violation of the right to communal property, judicial guarantees, and judicial protection recognized, respectively, in Articles 21(1), 8(1) and 25(1) of the Convention, in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2 thereof, to the detriment of the members of the Xákmok Kásek Community. 3. Effects on the cultural identity of the members of the Community of the failure to restore their traditional territory 171. The Commission indicated that, when “restrictions to the indigenous population’s access to its traditional lands increased, significant changes [occurred] in their subsistence practices.” It indicated that “several families of the Xákmok Kásek Community decided to leave […] owing to the difficult living conditions, seeking solutions to their needs.” 172. The representatives argued that the members of the Community are facing “collective cultural erosion” due to the violation of the right to property. They added that the lack of communal land deprives the Community “of the foundations for implementing its cultural practices, its spiritual life, its integrity, and its economic survival.” According to the representatives, there is a close relationship between the spiritual practices of the Community experienced collectively, and the relationship with the ancestral lands. Additionally, they indicated that the lack of land has affected the initiation rites for men, women and shamans. 173. The State did not comment on the foregoing. 174. The culture of the members of the indigenous communities corresponds to a specific way of life, of being, seeing and acting in the world, constituted on the basis of their close relationship with their traditional lands and natural resources, not only because these are their main means of subsistence, but also because they are an integral element of their cosmology, their spirituality and, consequently, their cultural identity.187 175. In the case of indigenous tribes or peoples, the traditional possession of their lands and the cultural patterns that arise from this close relationship form part of their identity. This identity has a unique content owing to the collective perception they have as a group, their cosmovision, their collective imagination, and the relationship with the land where they live their lives.188 176. For the members of the Xákmok Kásek Community, cultural characteristics such as their own languages (Sanapaná and Enxet), their shamanistic rituals, their male and female initiation rituals, their ancestral shamanic knowledge, the way they commemorate their dead, and their relationship with the land are essential for their cosmovision and particular way of life. 177. All these cultural characteristics and practices of the members of the Community have been affected by the lack of access to their traditional lands. According to the testimony of witness Rodrigo Villagra, the process of displacement from the traditional territory has resulted in “the fact that the people cannot bury [their family members] in their chosen places; […] that they cannot return [to those 187 Cf. Case of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, supra note 5, para. 135; Case of the Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, supra note 20, para. 118, and Case of the Saramaka People v. Suriname, supra note 16, para. 120. 188 United Nations, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. General Comment No. 21, December 21, 2009. E/C.12/GC/21. 40