settlement, it did not indicate the characteristics or qualities that would meet the
quality required for the sustainability of the Xákmok Kásek.141
118. It is not enough that other properties are available. As the State’s expert
witness testified, in order to grant lands other than those claimed they must, at least,
have certain “agro-ecological suitability” and be submitted to a study to determine
their potential for being developed by the Community.142
119. In this regard, the Court observes that the members of the Community have
rejected the alternate lands offered on different occasions during the domestic
proceedings, precisely because they did not meet the necessary quality requirements.
The State never refuted this argument or took any action to confirm or deny it (infra
footnote 148).
120. Moreover, regarding the 1,500 hectares where the Community is currently
settled, the Court finds that this surface extension can hardly be considered sufficient
and, consequently, fulfill the right to communal property of its members, as it does not
even meet the minimum legal extension established in Paraguay. Under Paraguayan
law, the members of the Community have a right to a minimum of 100 hectares for
each family.143 Since the Community is currently made up of 66 families, an area of
1,500 hectares would not be large enough, particularly as some expert reports
consider that not even the Paraguayan legal minimum is sufficient for a community
such as Xákmok Kásek to carry out its traditional activities and way of life.144
121. Second, while recognizing that the Community’s traditional territory is not
limited to the land claimed, the Court recalls that that the said traditional territory does
not extend to the whole of the Central and Lower Chaco. In this regard, the Court
reiterates its previous considerations (supra paras. 94 to 107), according to which the
area claimed by the Community is that part of its traditional land that is most
appropriate for settlement and development. Therefore, the State should have in the
past and should still channel its efforts to realize the right to property of the members
of the Community in relation to that land.
2.2.
Measures taken by the State to recover the traditional
lands
122. Since it has been concluded that the lands being claimed is the most
appropriate traditional land for the Community to settle on; that possession of this land
is not necessary, and that the right to recover the said traditional lands remains in
force, the Court will now examine the measures taken by the State to ensure the
recovery of that land to the members of the Community.
123. The Commission argued that “[t]he ineffectiveness of the procedures
established in Paraguayan law to fulfill indigenous peoples’ right to property have
meant that, in practice, the State does not guarantee the Community’s right to
141
List of properties for sale (file of attachments provided by the State at the public hearing,
attachment 2, tome IX, folios 3769 to 3774).
142
Cf. Expert testimony of Sergio Iván Braticevic, supra note 17, folio 4248.
143
Cf. Article 18 of Law No. 904/81, supra note 64, folio 2404.
144
In the 1995 report presented by the CEADUC, within the administrative action to reclaim their land
filed by the Community, it was considered that the area of 178 hectares for each family claimed by the
Community at that time was insufficient for the conservation and development of the Community’s specific
lifestyle. (Cf. CEADUC Anthropological Report, supra note 55, folios 735 to 750). Expert witness Rodrigo
Villagra Carron agreed with this (Cf. Testimony of Rodrigo Villagra Carron, supra note 17).
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