In March 2002, the Botswana Government terminated certain basic services to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), including access to: Drinking water; Maintenance of borehole water; Rations to registered destitute; Rations to registered orphans; Transport for the applicants’ children to and from school; and Healthcare to the applicants through mobile clinics and ambulance services. The …Read more

Petitioners, leaders of the Yakye Axa indigenous community of the Enxet-Lengua people, filed suit against the Republic of Paraguay alleging violations articles 4 (right to life) and 25 (right to judicial Protection) of the American Convention on Human Rights (the Convention). They further alleged that Paraguay ignored article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil …Read more

The indigenous community of Yakye Axa, a traditional society of hunter-gatherers, was resettled as part of a development program in Paraguay started in 1979. They were displaced to lands with a natural environment and resources that were different from the Yakye Axa’s traditional territory and incompatible with their traditional means of subsistence.  They also faced …Read more

O.M. is a Mexican woman who left her newborn son in a garbage can in the municipal headquarters of Santa Clara del Cobre after having given labor in the public restrooms. The woman placed toilet paper on the newborn child’s mouth cavity and nostrils to prevent others from hearing the newborn child cry, cut his …Read more

This report addresses the admissibility of a petition that alleged Peru failed to fulfill its obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights (the Convention). The Petitioner was the National Coordinator of Communities of Peru Affected by Mining (CONACAMI), representing members of the Community of San Mateo de Huanchor, in their claim that the State …Read more

A group of NGOs lodged a petition with the Commission alleging that Peru violated Maria Mamérita Mestanza Chávez’s rights on account of a forced sterilization that resulted in her death. Peru implemented a family planning policy involving compulsory and systematic sterilization in order to modify the reproductive behavior of the population. Poor, indigenous, and rural …Read more

This case was heard by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Their opinion is available here. Leaders of the Yakye Axa indigenous community of the Enxet-Lengua people filed suit against the Republic of Paraguay claiming that the Paraguayan State violated Articles 4 (right to life) and 25 (judicial protection), in conjunction with Article 1(1) (obligation …Read more

This case was brought to the Court by members of the Ogiek community who sought a declaration that their forcible eviction from the Tinet Forest by the Kenyan government was unconstitutional. The applicants claimed that the eviction was in contravention of their rights to protection of the law, their right to life, their right to …Read more

In 1991, representatives of the indigenous Enxet-Lamenxay and Kayleyphapopyet-Riachito communities commenced administrative proceedings against the Government of Paraguay to recover what they claimed was ancestral land that Paraguay had largely sold to foreigners in the years between 1885 and 1950. The petitioners described the land as “their main sustenance came from hunting, fishing, and gathering.” The …Read more

In the 1960s, the Government of Brazil approved plans to permit the development of the Amazon region, as well as the exploitation of its natural resources, despite Constitutional provisions and national legislation guaranteeing indigenous communities in the region full possession of the lands they occupied and the resources found therein. The root of the violation …Read more