10
situation of extreme poverty entails a systematic denial of the possibility of enjoying
the inherent rights of the human person. 22 The Yakye Axa Community certainly
suffers extreme poverty, as the testimony of witnesses and expert witnesses
shows. 23
29.
Interventions by the State must prevent, attenuate, and overcome risks such
as malnutrition, prevalence of anemia, morbidity and mortality, creating basic
conditions in terms of health care, adequate nutrition, education, occupational
training, and income generation. Protective factors that must be guaranteed by the
State, including medical services, conditions for self-production of food, and
integration into community networks that ensure essential self-sufficiency, require
basic conditions regarding settlement of the indigenous community members that
are the target group of the services; the size of the group must enable
social/communal self-sufficiency, and quality of the land must be adequate to
prevent, attenuate, and overcome the risks.
30.
Said interventions must take into account that, pursuant to the Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action (1993), at the World Conference on Human
Rights, all human rights are universal, indivisible, and interdependent, and
interrelated. 24 I believe that, in light of these principles, it is not a matter of
protecting one of the human rights embodied in the Inter-American System to the
detriment of another or other such rights, or of protecting some complainants in a
way that leads to violation of these rights of others also protected by the Convention.
In this framework, we must deem it axiomatic that no assistance provided to small
groups that are dispersed and/or settled on precarious lands can create conditions
that ensure a decent existence. 25
31.
Insisting on supplying food to the members of indigenous communities, with
no ending date and without meeting the conditions stated in the previous paragraph,
can lead to an unwanted end by creating dependency and weakening their own social
protection mechanisms. It is also necessary to take into account that access to
appropriate land is a necessary condition, but not sufficient, to create conditions that
ensure a decent life. 26 In this regard, it is necessary to avoid using most of the
existing financial resources to purchase land or pay compensation for land
expropriation.
32.
The State’s duty to adopt positive measures to protect the right to life, even if
this involves aid to the vulnerable population groups in a situation of extreme
22
E/CN.4/ Sub 2/2004/44.
23
Case of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community, Public Hearing held on March 3 and 4, 2005 at the
Seat of the Court.
The principle of indivisibility establishes that improvements regarding one human right cannot be
obtained in a manner that is detrimental to another, while the principle of interdependence asserts that
improvements in realization of any human right depend on realization of all, or at least of several. E/CN.4/
Sub 2/2004/25.
24
Law 904/81 establishes that indigenous groups that have separated from their communities and
regroup must have at least 20 families.
25
26
It is necessary to take into account that in fact there are already indigenous communities that
despite access to land that is adequate in terms o quality and size are in a situation of extreme poverty
due to lack of adequate intervention.