12
to male and female members of these peoples;”41 and to Article 1 of the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: “[i]ndigenous peoples have the right
to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, and international human rights law.”42
52. In subsequent cases, as well as in this judgment, the Court has repeated that the
injured party is the indigenous or tribal Peoples and their members. 43
53. Taking this into consideration, it can be verified that in the Court’s case law there is
now an agreement between the right to collective property and those entitled to this
right, namely the Community and its members, who are also beneficiaries of the
measures of reparation. It is also acknowledged that the impact of the violations on the
Community have a specific nature that must be recognized. It is necessary to add this
to the collective compensation.
54. Collective compensation is maybe the only way in which the specific damage
suffered by the Community as a whole, which is different to the damage suffered by its
members as individuals, can be adequately redressed, even when they are both
intimately related.44 As established by the Court in the Case of the Yakye Axa Indigenous
Community v. Paraguay: “reparations take on a special collective significance”45 when
they refer to an indigenous or tribal group.
55. In fact, only granting individual reparations in cases of indigenous or tribal peoples,
besides being inconsistent with their world view and collective way of life, may affect the
communities’ social and cultural fabric and cause division between its members because
it is contrary to their customs and traditions. Therefore, the collective compensation
measure, ordered in this case through a Community development fund, and not the
payment of individual reparations to its members, must be the general rule in cases
dealing with indigenous and tribal peoples,. The most obvious exception to this general
rule would be the cases dealing with specific damages caused in detriment of certain
individuals, members of a Community.
International Labor Organization (ILO), Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in
Independent Countries, adopted on June 27, 1989 and in force since September 5, 1991.
41
The Court also referred to United Nations, Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights,
General Comment No. 17, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/GC/17, of November 2006, paras. 7, 8, and 32; General Comment
No. 21, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/GC/21, of November 2009, paras. 8 to 9; African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights of 1986, Articles 20 to 22.
42
Case of the Kuna Indigenous People of Madungandí and the Emberá Indigenous People of Bayano and
their Members v. Panama. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations, and Costs. Judgment of October 14,
2014. Series C No. 284, para. 209; Case of the Afro-descendant Communities displaced from the Cacarica
River Basin (Operation Genesis) v. Colombia. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations, and Costs. Judgment
of November 20, 2013. Series C No. 270, fourth operative paragraph and para. 257.
43
Cfr. United Nations, Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 23, U.N. Doc.
CCPR/C/21/Rev.l/Add.S, of April 26, 1994, para. 6(2): “[a]lthough the rights protected under Article 27 [of
the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] are individual rights, they depend in turn on the ability of the
minority group to maintain its culture, language, or religion.”
44
Case of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay. Merits, Reparations, and Costs. Judgment
of June 17, 2005. Series C No. 125, para. 188.
45