11
c)
Duty to adopt legislative, administrative, and other measures
necessary to ensure the property rights of the members of the Moiwana
Community in relation to the traditional territories from which they were
expelled (Operative Paragraph three of the Judgment and Operative
Paragraph one of the Judgment on Interpretation)
19.
The State reported during the private hearing (supra Having Seen clause 8)
that in the years 2007 to 2009, it carried out workshops with the participation of civil
society and indigenous and maroon communities in order to raise national awareness
on land rights. It also carried out a national conference that resulted in a tentative
timeline for compliance with this obligation and the prioritization of related issues.
The State indicated, furthermore, that it is working to include collective land rights in
the Constitution of Suriname. It also affirmed that the National Commission on Land
Rights (hereinafter “the National Commission), whose mandate ended in December
2007, issued a “Final Report” that was presented to the government in February
2008 for comments; however, no comments have been received. Though the
National Commission faced several obstacles that limited its access to indigenous
and maroon communities for consultations, including a lack of funding, 23 the Report
is to be used in the drafting of legislation intended to remedy existing regulations
that offer insufficient guarantees to the Moiwana Community with respect to
concessions in their territory. In addition, the National Commission was able to map
the Moiwana territory with the Community’s cooperation. As a result of its work, the
State asked the Amazon Conservation Team (hereinafter, “the ACT”), a private, nongovernmental organization, to conduct a study on that territory. According to the
State, the ACT mapped Moiwana territories, collected data essential for demarcation,
and in May 2007 issued a draft report entitled “Strategy for the Sustainable
Development of the Moiwana Village” as part of the State’s “Support for the
Sustainable Development of the Interior” (hereinafter, “SSDI”) project, which is “in a
final phase.” This report was to be discussed with the victims in February 2010 and
presented to the government in March 2010. The State affirmed that it is regularly
consulting and working in close cooperation with target groups in order to demarcate
their lands. However, it also indicated that “this strategy is not specifically intended
for the territory of the Moiwana [V]illage[,] but [for] the whole interior of Suriname,”
and stated that a schedule for implementation “will be sen[t] to the Court after
consultation with stakeholders.” Finally, in response to statements made by the
representatives and the Inter-American Commission (infra Considering clauses 20
and 23), the State clarified that it had requested assistance from the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
(hereinafter, “the Special Rapporteur”) for the implementation of another judgment;
nevertheless, international experts, including the Special Rapporteur, “will be
involved in the solution of the lands rights issue.”
20.
The representatives observed little progress in the State’s compliance with
this order. They noted, first of all, that while in 2008 the State had asked the UN
Special Rapporteur for support in the drafting of a law that would regularize tribal
peoples' property rights, the Special Rapporteur’s 2009 Report indicated that the
State had not followed up on that request. They also indicated that the State has
23
According to the State, other obstacles included flooding in the hinterlands that limited access to
the indigenous and maroon communities, as well as the fact that that these communities do not have a
“uniform perspective” on land rights and that some of their members that have moved to the city have
“no interest in collective rights.”