22 as collective subjects of International Law and not only their members.” Moreover, the Court clarified that “because indigenous or tribal peoples and communities, who are cohesively bound by their particular ways of life and identity, exercise some rights recognized by the Convention in a collective dimension, the Court holds that considerations of law expressed or interpreted in the instant Judgment must be 90 understood from said collective perspective.” Accordingly, as it has done in previous matters, the 91 IACHR shall examine the instant matter from a collective perspective. 2. Right to Collective Property of the Punta Piedra Community and its Members 90. The Honduran Constitution of 1982 recognizes the existence of indigenous peoples and 92 the importance of preserving and encouraging their culture. Article 346 of the Constitution recognizes the right to property of indigenous peoples and establishes the obligation to take measures to protect the rights and interests of existing indigenous communities in the country. Said provision reads as follows: It is the duty of the State to pass measures to protect the rights and interests of existing indigenous communities in the country, especially of the lands and forests where they are settled. 91. In addition to the constitutional provision, other domestic legal provisions recognize territorial rights of indigenous peoples, particularly, Article 92 of the 1992 Law of Modernization and 93 Development of the Agrarian Sector, and the Law of Property, approved under Decree No. 82-2004, specifically Articles 93-102, of Chapter III, which refers to the “process of regularization of real property for indigenous and Afro-Honduran peoples.” This law recognizes a communal regime of lands that indigenous and Afro-Honduran peoples have traditionally possessed, the rights to which are described as 94 inalienable, unattachable and unlapsable, as well as recognizing the special importance that the relationship with the lands has for the peoples’ culture and spiritual values.95 92. Furthermore, under Decree No. 26-94 of May 10, 1994, published on July 30, 1994, Honduras ratified International Labor Organization Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. This Convention has been in force in the Honduran State since March 28, 1995. In ratifying this Convention, the State undertook to adopt special measures to ensure effective enjoyment without restriction of the fundamental human rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples, as well as to include measures that promote the full realization of their social, economic and cultural rights, respecting their social and cultural identity, their customs, traditions and institutions. With regard to the right of ownership, Article 14 of the ILO Convention establishes: 90 IA Court of HR, Case of the Kichwa de Sarayaku Indigenous People v. Ecuador. Merits and Reparations. Judgment June 27, 2012. Series C No. 245. par. 231. 91 In this regard, see IACHR, Application brought before the IA Court of HR in the Case of Mayagna (Sumo) Awas Tingni Community v. Nicaragua, June 4, 1998; IACHR, Application brought before the IA Court of HR in the Case of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, March 17, 2003; IACHR, Report No. 40/04, Case 12.053, Mayan Indigenous Communities of the District of Toledo v. Belize, October 12, 2004; IACHR, Application brought before the IA Court of HR in the Case of the Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, Feburary 2005; IACHR, Application brought before the IA Court of HR in the Case of the Saramaka People v. Suriname, June 23, 2006; IACHR, Application brought before the IA Court of HR in the Case of the Xákmok Kásek Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, July 3, 2009; IACHR, Application brought before the IA Court of HR in the Case of the Kichwa de Sarayaku People and its members v. Ecuador, April 26, 2010. 92 Political Constitution of Honduras, Article 173.- The State shall preserve and encourage native cultures, as well as genuine expressions of national folklore, traditional art and handicrafts. 93 Article 92 of the law of Modernization and Development of the Agrarian Sector, Decree 31-92, provides that the granting of titles to ethnic communities shall be free: “Ethnic communities that prove occupation of the lands where they are settled, for a period no shorter than three years as set forth in amended Article 15 of this Law, shall receive propery title in fee simple totally for free, issued by the National Agrarian Institute within the time period stipulated in the aforementioned Article 15.” 94 Law of Property, Decree 82-2004 of June 29, 2004. Article 100. 95 Law of Property, Decree 82-2004 of June 29, 2004. Article 93.