56
199.
Moreover, the IACHR notes that after a meeting held on March 14, 2006, between the
General Secretary of the Provincial Governor’s Office and the General Coordinator of the Lhaka Honhat
Association, the Provincial Government agreed to adjudicate a surface of 400.000 hectares for
exclusively indigenous ownership and use. This point was later formally reiterated in the agreement of
October 2007.
200.
The Lhaka Honhat Association signed an Agreement on October 2007 with the National
and Provincial Governments, the Organization of Creole Families and their respective advisors. The
agreement was formalized by the Provincial Government through Decree 2786/07 of October 23, 2007
and marked the initiation of the current stage of the process. The information submitted by the State
indicates that the Lhaka Honhat Association participated freely in the signature of the agreement, as well
as in the subsequent stages of the land adjudication process which have developed since then.
201.
Since the Agreement of October 17, 2007, and its formalization in Decree 2786/07, a
complex participative process has been developed, aimed at the final resolution of the territorial situation
of Lots 14 and 55.
202.
Despite having earlier imposed in a unilateral manner its territorial formalization proposal,
the Provincial Government has shown a new flexibility and openness to the suggestions,
recommendations and claims of the indigenous communities of the area. The main disagreements which
have arisen between the Provincial Government and the Lhaka Honhat Association during this last phase
of the process regard to processes of titling, demarcation and delimitation of ancestral territories in these
conditions.
203.
In this same sense, the IACHR notes that in the course of this fifth stage of the territorial
claim, through the participative process which has been documented in detail, the State has obtained
positive achievements of great importance, the scope of which has been recognized by the
representatives of the Lhaka Honhat Association themselves. The undeniable advances achieved by the
State include the recognition of 400.000 hectares of exclusively indigenous territory; the guarantee that
the indigenous territory will be continuous, in order to allow for the development of their nomadic, huntergatherer way of life; the deployment of a participative methodology; the voluntary relocation, with financial
State support, of half of the creole population that resides in the area; and the active inclusion in the
process of both the creole families and the indigenous communities that do not form part of the Lhaka
Honhat Association, so as to arrive at a solution which satisfies the broadest possible range of the rights
that are at play in this complex socio-economic situation. For the IACHR, it is indispensable to
acknowledge that faced with a factual situation of this level of complexity, the State has displayed in the
past years a significant capacity to develop a participative and broad methodology, and thus
accommodate multiple and rivaling interests and rights, respecting the right to consultation and the
modalities of territorial relatedness of the numerous inhabitants of this large territorial area.
204.
Within this framework, the IACHR notes that the disagreements between the parties, and
the issues about which the petitioners have expressed their opposition to the actions of the Provincial
Government, are of an essentially methodological nature; they mainly refer to (i) the order in which the
different stages of delimitation of the indigenous territory and subscription of relocation agreements with
the creole population should be carried out, (ii) the fact that as of this moment it has only been possible to
obtain the consent of 50% of the creole population to relocation, and it is feared that the consent of the
remaining 50% will not be obtained, and (iii) the fact that it is unclear how to proceed in case that no
agreements between the indigenous and the creole are reached with regard to the delimitation of their
respective properties.
205.
The IACHR shall not issue an opinion on which stage should be carried out first –
whether the delimitation of the exclusively indigenous area or the agreements for the relocation of the
creole population -, nor about the partial results obtained as of this date in the course of the relocation
process or the manner in which the other relocation agreements should be obtained. The IACHR
considers a duty of the State of Argentina, to secure an exclusively indigenous territory for the alleged