Indigenous and Afrodescendant Peoples and the Inter-American Human Rights System

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Despite the expansion of multicultural citizenship rights in Latin America, indigenous and Afrodescendant peoples from the region routinely appeal to the Inter-American human rights system to resolve a range of rights violations. This panel examines the conditions that provoke these appeals and the degree to which the Inter-American system can substantively address the threats facing communities and the systemic failures of Latin American states to protect their rights. Papers focus on recent appeals to the Inter-American system by indigenous Yaqui in Mexico, Mopan and Q’eqchi’ Maya in Belize, Afrodescendant Creole and indigenous Rama in Nicaragua, and Afro-indigenous Garifuna in Honduras.

Sub Track

• Afro-Latin/Indigenous Peoples

Session Organizers

• Jennifer Goett, Michigan State University

• Laurie K Medina, Michigan State University

Chair

• Laurie K Medina, Michigan State University

Individual Presentations

• The Limits of Indigeneity: Pueblo Garifuna v. Honduras - Christopher A Loperena, University of San Francisco

• International Indigenous Rights Law v. the Sovereign State: Maya Struggles to Implement Rights in Belize - Laurie K Medina, Michigan State University

• The IACHR Hearing: A Mechanism for the Judicialization of Ethnic Politics in Nicaragua - Jennifer Goett, Michigan State University

• Through the Aqueduct Independencia: An Exploration of the Universal Right to Water and Indigenous Water Rights in Northwestern Mexico - Lucero Radonic

Discussant

• Ariel E Dulitzky, University of Texas/School of Law