6
the application of Articles 46 of the Convention and 37 of the Commission’s
Regulations. The State reiterated this position on December 19, 1997.
21.
On March 2, 1998, the State informed the Commission that, on January 22,
1998, the petitioners had presented a request before the Supreme Court of Justice
for the execution of the judgment of February 27, 1997, delivered by that Court. On
this occasion, the State reiterated its position that domestic remedies had not been
exhausted due to the applications for amparo filed by the Community and requested
that the Commission abstain from continuing to process the case.
22.
On March 3, 1998, the Inter-American Commission approved Report No.
27/98, which was forwarded to the State on March 6 that year. In this Report, the
Commission concluded:
141.
Based on the acts and omissions examined, (...) that the State of Nicaragua
has not complied with its obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights.
The State of Nicaragua has not demarcated the communal lands of the Awas Tingni
Community or other indigenous communities, nor has it taken effective measures to
ensure the property rights of the Community on its lands. This omission by the State
constitutes a violation of Articles 1, 2 and 21 of the Convention, which together establish
the right to the said effective measures. Articles 1 and 2 oblige States to take the
necessary measures to give effect to the rights contained in the Convention.
142.
The State of Nicaragua is actively responsible for violations of the right to
property, embodied in Article 21 of the Convention, by granting a concession to the
company SOLCARSA to carry out road construction work and logging exploitation on the
Awas Tingni lands, without the consent of the Awas Tingni Community.
143.
[...] the State of Nicaragua did not guarantee an effective remedy to respond to
the claims of the Awas Tingni Community regarding their rights to lands and natural
resources, pursuant to Article 25 of the Convention.
Moreover, the Commission recommended that Nicaragua:
a.
establish a procedure in its legal system, acceptable to the indigenous
communities involved, that [would] result in the rapid official recognition and
demarcation of the Awas Tingni territory and the territories of other communities of the
Atlantic coast;
b.
suspend as soon as possible, all activity related to the logging concession within
the Awas Tingni communal lands granted to SOLCARSA by the State, until the matter of
the ownership of the land, which affects the indigenous communities, [has been]
resolved, or a specific agreement [has been] reached between the State and the Awas
Tingni Community; and
c.
initiate discussions with the Awas Tingni Community within one month in order
to determine the circumstances under which an agreement [could] be reached between
the State and the Awas Tingni Community.
When it forwarded this report to the State, the Commission granted it sixty days to
transmit information on the measures that it had adopted in order to comply with
these recommendations.
23.
On May 7, 1998, the Commission received the State’s reply dated the
previous day.
The Commission indicated that, although this reply had been
presented after the time limit had elapsed, it would examine it in order to add it to
the record of the case. With regard to the recommendations of the Inter-American
Commission, Nicaragua stated that: