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VII-2.
OBLIGATION TO ADOPT DOMESTIC LEGAL PROVISIONS
(Article 2 of the Convention, in relation to Articles 1(1), 21, 8, and 25)
A. Arguments of the parties and of the Commission
183. The Commission referred to a “lack of provision of an adequate and effective procedure
for the acknowledgment, titling, demarcation, and delimitation of the territories reclaimed by
the presumed victims, […] which would guarantee the pacific possession and recovery of their
[traditional] territory.”190 It added that “the existence of deficiencies in the legal framework
[…] has prevented […] the Community […], from protecting the territories historically occupied
by it.” Additionally, it added that Honduras’ “agrarian legislation” was based on the use and
productive exploitation of the land” and therefore “it is foreign [to the] specific forms of
relationship and use of the land, characteristic of the culture, uses, customs, and beliefs [of
the Community]”191 and that “[s]aid legal framework does not comprehend the scope of the
collective property of the indigenous people and therefore excludes territories, natural
resources historically used.”192 Likewise, it made reference to some provisions of the Law on
Property of 2004, specifically its Article 100 that “[would] affect the legal certainty of the
lands upon not ensuring the non-alienability of communal lands and allowing free disposition
by the communities, the establishment of pledges or mortgages or other encumbrances, or
their lease.”193
184. The representative argued that “[t]he absence of effective, specific, and regulated
procedures for the titling of indigenous communal lands causes general uncertainty.” They
also indicated with regard to existing legislation that “even though it acknowledges the
communal land regimen of indigenous communities, it includes grave exceptions that restrict
this acknowledgment, thus violating international principles, standards, and instruments,”
since despite having ratified Convention 169 of the ILO and approved the United Nations’
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, Honduras had not “included in its domestic
regulations an adaptation as per the mentioned treaties.”194 The representatives referred
specifically to several provisions of the Law on Property, which include “exceptions, conditions,
and repealing and restrictive provisions”195 and they especially mentioned Article 100 of this
The Commission made the mentioned argument regarding an alleged violation of Articles 8 and 25 of the
Convention, in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2 of the same. Additionally, it argued that the State had violated Article
21 of the Convention, in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2 of the same “for not having […] provided [the Community and
its members] effective access to a collective property deed over their traditional territory; as well as for having
refrained from delimiting, demarcating, and protecting it in an effective manner.”
190
The Commission added that “the Garífuna culture is basically oral and given the interests of third parties in
their territories, they were forced to carry out procedures to title their lands and document their rights, thus being
required to adapt their oral tradition and follow the existing legal mechanisms to substantiate and document their
claims.”
191
It added that “[a]s a result of this” the Community was able to obtain a communal title deed and a title
deed in guarantee of occupation “which did not acknowledge their right to property as such, but limited rights to the
use and enjoyment of the lands.”
192
The Commission added that “the inclusion of this type of clauses in the communal deed, as well as the
application of the regulations that promote the use of indigenous territories for tourism purposes, are not compatible
with the effective safety and legal certainty that must characterize the title deed the indigenous people are entitled
to.”
193
Similarly, the representatives argued that “the necessary constitutional reform that will grant a higher
hierarchy to indigenous matters, with the acknowledgment of a pluricultural nature, the customary law, and their
own traditional ways of organization and economic development, but above all and especially the rights to communal
property over their territories, has not yet been made.”
194
The representatives mentioned, among others, that the “regularization” referred to in this Law on Property
“would only take into consideration aspects of physical possession of those lands and not the historical possession
195