REPORT Nº 78/06
PETITION 12.094
ADMISSIBILITY
ABORIGINAL COMMUNITY OF LHAKA HONHAT (“OUR LAND”)
ARGENTINA
October 21, 2006
I.
SUMMARY
1.
On August 4, 1998, the Aboriginal Communities
Association Lhaka Honhat (hereafter "the petitioners" or the “Lhaka
Honhat Association"), with the support of the Center for Legal and Social
Studies (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, CELS) 1 and the Center
for Justice and International Law (Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho
Internacional, CEJIL), presented a petition before the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (hereafter "the Commission", "the InterAmerican Commission", or "the IACHR") for violation of the rights to life
(Article 4), the right to humane treatment (Article 5), the right to
privacy (Article 11.2), the right to information (Article 13), the right to
freedom of association (Article 16), the right to freedom of movement
and residence (Article 22), the right to judicial protection (Article 25), in
concordance with the general obligation to respect human rights,
recognized in Article 1.1 of the American Convention on Human Rights
(hereafter “the Convention” or “the American Convention”) and in
Articles XI, XII, XIII and XXII of the American Declaration on the Rights
and Duties of Man (hereafter the Declaration), against the Argentine
Republic (hereafter “the State”, the “Argentine State”, or “Argentina”),
to the prejudice of the indigenous communities that make up the Lhaka
Honhat Association, and that live in State-owned or “fiscal” lots (lotes
fiscales) 14 and 55 of the Municipality of Santa Victoria, Department of
Rivadavia, Province of Salta, for failing to consult them on various public
works projects in the context of the integration plan for MERCOSUR (the
Common Market consisting of Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay,
with participation of Chile), since 1995. The Lhaka Honhat Association
consists of 35 indigenous communities of the Mataco (Wichi), Chorote
(Iyjwaja), Toba (Quom), Chulupí (Nivacklé), and Tapiete (Tapy´y)
1 Commissioner Victor Abramovich formally resigned as legal counsel and
representative of CELS in this case, by a letter sent to the Commission on July 7,
2005, after he was elected a member of the Commission on June 7, 2005 during the
General Assembly of the Organization of American States. The Commission
acknowledged receipt of this letter on November 14, 2005. Commissioner Abramovich
did not participate in discussion and voting for approval of this report, by virtue of
Article 17 of the IACHR Rules of Procedure.