Accordingly, the Court will analyze the right of the Kaliña and Lokono peoples to request the
restitution of their traditional territories.
151. To determine the existence of the relationship of the indigenous peoples with their
traditional land, the Court has established that: (i) this may be expressed in different ways,
according to the indigenous people in question and their specific circumstances, and (ii) the
relationship with the land must be possible. The ways in which this relationship is expressed
could include traditional use or presence by spiritual or ceremonial ties; sporadic settlements or
crops; seasonal or nomadic hunting, fishing or gathering; use of natural resources connected to
their customs, and any other element characteristic of their culture.189 The second element
means that the members of the indigenous peoples are not prevented, for reasons beyond their
control, from carrying out those activities that reveal the persistence of the relationship with
their traditional territories.190
152.
In this case, the Court observes that the relationship of the members of the Kaliña and
Lokono peoples with their traditional territory is revealed, inter alia, by the fact that they conduct
their traditional activities within the lands claimed (supra paras. 33 and 34), as well as by their
intrinsic and physical relationship with the Marowijne River, which is an essential element of their
cultural and traditional identity and a source of their survival (supra para. 35). Indeed, the river
is used by the members of these peoples to moor their boats, to fish, to bathe, and to wash their
clothes (supra para. 98). In addition, Captain Grace Watamaleo stated that they “have a strong
spiritual connection to the Marowijne River, which has a central place in [their] cultural identity
and traditions, and through which [they] understand that [they] belong to [that] place as much
as [they] believe that it belongs to [them].”191 However, the testimony of several members of
the Kaliña and Lokono peoples (supra para. 98) was consistent in indicating that the owners of
the buildings have restricted direct access to the Marowijne River, and this was corroborated
during the on-site procedure.
153. In addition, the Court has already established that Suriname does not recognize the right
to collective property; hence, the Kaliña and Lokono peoples have not been able to obtain the
delimitation, demarcation and titling of the territories they claim, even though the State
undertook to ensure this right and to demarcate the indigenous residential lands in the 1992
Lelydorp Peace Accord (supra para. 51). To the contrary, Suriname has issued individual land
titles to non-indigenous persons in the territories claimed. In view of this situation, and owing to
the absence of a remedy to obtain the protection of their rights (infra paras. 249 and 258), the
Kaliña and Lokono peoples have filed several actions to achieve the recognition of their right to
collective property and a halt to the granting of land titles. In this regard, the Court has verified
several claims filed between 1972 and at least 2013, in relation to the presence of third parties
in their territories192 (supra paras. 59 to 69). Consequently, the Court finds that the State was
189
Cf. Case of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community, supra, para. 154, and Case of the Sarayaku Indigenous People,
supra, para. 148.
190
Cf. Case of the Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Community, supra, para. 132, and Case of the Sarayaku Indigenous
People, supra, para. 148.
191
Cf. Affidavit made by Captain Grace Watamaleo on January 27, 2015 (merits file, folio 444).
192
These include: (a) petitions to the Independence Commission in 1972; (b) the filing of three claims before
domestic courts in 1975 and 1976; (c) the 142-kilometer march to Paramaribo to protest against the subdivision project;
(d) claims owing to the existence of private properties and concessions in cases such as Tjang A Sjin v. Zaalman and
Others and Celientje Martina Joeroeja-Koewie and Others v. Suriname & Suriname Stone & Industries N.V.; (e) formal
petitions submitted to the President of Suriname on three occasions (2003, 2004 and 2005) based on article 22 of the
Constitution (right of petition) to obtain recognition of their territory; (f) meetings with senior authorities in 2003, and (g)
petitions filed by CLIM on behalf of the peoples, and by the captains of the eight peoples of the Lower Marowijne on four
occasions (2004, 2006, 2007, 2013) requesting the suspension of the issue of titles in the area of Tuinstad Albina or any
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