2
October 27, 2000 by the Association of Saramaka Authorities (hereinafter “ASA”) and
twelve Saramaka captains on their own behalf as well as on behalf of the Saramaka people
of the Upper Suriname River. On March 2, 2006, the Commission adopted admissibility and
merits report No. 9/06, pursuant to Article 50 of the Convention,1 in which it made certain
recommendations to the State. On June 19, 2006, the Commission concluded that “the
matter had not been settled” and, consequently, submitted this case to the jurisdiction of
the Court.2
2.
The application submits to the Court's jurisdiction alleged violations committed by
the State against the members of the Saramaka people, an allegedly tribal community living
in the Upper Suriname River region. The Commission alleged that the State has not
adopted effective measures to recognize their right to the use and enjoyment of the
territory they have traditionally occupied and used, that the State has allegedly violated the
right to judicial protection to the detriment of such people by not providing them effective
access to justice for the protection of their fundamental rights, particularly the right to own
property in accordance with their communal traditions, and that the State has allegedly
failed to adopt domestic legal provisions in order to ensure and guarantee such rights to the
Saramakas.
3.
The Commission asked the Court to determine the international responsibility of the
State for the violation of Articles 21 (Right to Property) and 25 (Right to Judicial Protection),
in conjunction with Articles 1(1) and 2 of the American Convention. Furthermore, the
Commission requested that the Court order the State to adopt several monetary and nonmonetary reparation measures.
4.
The representatives of the alleged victims, namely, Mr. Fergus MacKay, of the Forest
Peoples Programme, Mr. David Padilla, and the Association of Saramaka Authorities
(hereinafter “the representatives”), submitted their written brief containing pleadings,
motions and evidence (hereinafter “representatives’ brief”), in accordance with Article 23 of
the Rules of Procedure. The representatives asked the Court to declare that the State had
violated the same rights alleged by the Commission, and additionally alleged that the State
had violated Article 3 (Right to Juridical Personality) of the Convention by “failing to
recognize the legal personality of the Saramaka people���. Moreover, the representatives
submitted additional facts and arguments regarding the alleged ongoing and continuous
effects associated with the construction of a hydroelectric dam in the 1960s that allegedly
flooded traditional Saramaka territory. Additionally, they requested certain measures of
reparation and the reimbursement of the costs and expenses incurred in processing the
case at the national level and before the international proceedings.
1
In the report, the Commission concluded that the State was responsible for the violation of: the right to
property established in Article 21 of the American Convention to the detriment of the Saramaka people, by not
adopting effective measures to recognize its communal property right to the lands it has traditionally occupied and
used, without prejudice to other tribal and indigenous communities; the right to judicial protection enshrined in
Article 25 of the American Convention, to the detriment of the Saramaka people, by not providing them effective
access to justice for the protection of their fundamental rights, and Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention by failing to
recognize or give effect to the collective rights of the Saramaka people to their lands and territories. In addition,
the Commission made some recommendations to the State of Suriname. Cf. Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights, Report Nº 09/06, Admissibility and Merits. Case 12.338. The Twelve Saramaka Clans (LOS).
Suriname. March 02, 2006 (case file of appendices to the application and annex 1, appendix 1, folios 239-297).
2
The Commission appointed Paolo Carozza, Commissioner, and Santiago A. Canton, Executive Secretary,
as delegates, and Ariel E. Dulitzky, Víctor Madrigal Borloz, Oliver Sobers and Manuela Cuvi Rodríguez, as legal
advisers.
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