The right of indigenous peoples over their natural resources in the recent case-law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Abstract

Four recent judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have once again raised issues relating to the rights of indigenous peoples over their lands, territories and resources. The article addresses the treatment of the right to collective or communal ownership and the right to consultation in order to obtain free, prior and informed consent, in general and in these judgments in particular, as instrumental rights to guarantee the effective enjoyment of their lands, territories and resources by indigenous and tribal communities.