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the members of the Moiwana Community in relation to the traditional
territories from which they were expelled, and provide for the members’ use
and enjoyment of those territories. These measure shall include the creation
of an effective mechanism for the delimitation, demarcation, and titling of said
traditional territories, in terms of paragraphs 209-211 of this Judgment.”
(operative paragraph n. 3).
10.
I understand that the determination of the delimitation, demarcation, titling
and return of the communal lands constitutes a legitimate and necessary form of
non-pecuniary reparation, in the circumstances of the cas d’espece, which the InterAmerican Court has full authority to order, in accordance with article 63(1) of the
American Convention.
It is not only a matter of restitutio, returning to the
vulnerable statu quo ante of the victimized community, but also ensuring the
guarantee of non-repetition of the harmful and especially grave events (the 1986
massacre).
II.
The Guarantee of a Voluntary and Sustainable Return.
11.
In the case of the members of the communities subjected to violence as a
whole, like the Moiwana Community, the lack of compliance with the aforementioned
form of reparation would imply a violation of the principle of non-discrimination. The
delimitation, demarcation, and titling of the Community’s lands become of
fundamental importance, also to guarantee a sustainable return. Here once again the
convergence between International Human Rights Law and International Refugee
Law (as well as International Humanitarian Law), which I have been supporting for
many
years
1
, are manifest.
12.
Since return - evidently voluntary – was not dealt with by the Convention on
the Statute of Refugees of 1951 nor by its Protocol of 19672, the specialized doctrine
has given considerable attention to the question in the last few years, in order to
address the new needs of protection of the human being.3 In Latin America, the
issue has not passed unnoticed by the Declarations of Cartagena (1984), San José of
Costa Rica (1994) and Mexico (2004), regarding refugees and displaced persons. I
have closely accompanied this historic process, and also participated in it, and I am
of the conviction that the Inter-American Court cannot remain indifferent or
insensitive to it.
Cf., for an acutalization of my thesis on this topic, A.A. Cançado Trindade,
"Aproximaciones y Convergencias Revisitadas: Diez Años de Interacción entre el Derecho
Internacional de los Derechos Humanos, el Derecho Internacional de los Refugiados, y el Derecho
Internacional Humanitario (De Cartagena/1984 a San José/1994 y México/2004)", in Memoria del
Vigésimo Aniversario de la Declaración de Cartagena sobre los Refugiados (1984-2004), 1st. ed.,
San José of Costa Rica/Mexico, UNHCR, 2005, pp. 139-191.
1
Although the termination clauses have do with it. The Convention of the OAU
Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa of 1969 continues to be the only
treaty that deals explicitly with the question of voluntary return.
2
Cf., e.g., inter alia, A.A. Cançado Trindade and J. Ruiz de Santiago, La Nueva Dimensión
de las Necesidades de Protección del Ser Humano en el Inicio del Siglo XXI, 3rd. ed., San José of
Costa Rica, UNHCR, 2004, pp. 17-1212.
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