57
victims of this case, with a common shared title and to respect and implement in the course of what
remains of the process of formalization of indigenous territorial property, it´s international obligations.
206.
For the above reasons, the IACHR considers that the advances and achievements which
have been made since October 2007 until present correspond to incipient reparation of the violations of
Articles 21, 8 and 25 of the American Convention that were configured previously and were described in
the preceding stages. The achievement of full reparation for these violations, and likewise access to the
effective enjoyment of the right to territorial property by the indigenous communities of Lots 14 and 55,
will be possible insofar as the State of Argentina guarantees, during the subsequent development and
culmination of the process, respect for the parameters and guidelines provided by inter-American human
rights law.
D.
The rights of the indigenous peoples of fiscal lots 55 and 14 with regard to the
public works and natural resource exploration and exploitation activities within
their ancestral territory
207.
It has been proven that the authorities of the National and Provincial Government carried
out, or planned the execution of, different public works in the ancestral territory of Fiscal Lots 55 and 14
during recent years, and granted a concession for the exploration of hydrocarbons, without having made
prior consultations with the indigenous communities that inhabit this territory, which is pending formal
allocation, and also without having carried out prior social and environmental impact assessments. These
public works were:
(a) The construction of the international bridge Misión La Paz – Pozo Hondo over the
Pilcomayo River, which was started in 1995 and finalized without actually executing the
other public and urbanization works that had been planned in its vicinity, which are
currently paralyzed.
(b) The works of improvement of a road that links Santa Victoria Este with La Paz, in July
2001.
(c) The planning of works for the construction of Route 86, and the opening of a public
tender process for that purpose, in 2000 and 2001.
(d) The works of maintenance and broadening of Provincial Route No. 54, in 2005.
(e) The conduction of a public tender and the grant of a concession for oil and gas
exploration in the area affected by the claim, in 2001.
Requirements of inter-American human rights law for carrying out public works and granting
concessions in indigenous territories
208.
Infrastructure or development mega‐projects, such as roads, canals, dams, ports and the
like, as well as concessions for the exploration or exploitation of natural resources in ancestral territories,
may affect indigenous populations with particularly serious consequences, given that they imperil their
territories and the ecosystems within, for which reason they represent a danger to their survival as
peoples, especially in cases where the ecological fragility of their territories coincides with demographic
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weakness. For the above reasons, the organs of the inter-American protection system have linked the
negative effects of development and investment plans and projects in indigenous or tribal territories, as
well as those of concessions for the exploration and exploitation of natural resources, to multiple
191
IACHR, Third Report on the Human Rights Situation in Colombia. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.102, Doc. 9 rev. 1, 26 February
1999, Chapter IX, pars. 33-35.