미주지역에서 선주민족의 재산권 보장에 관한 연구 - 미주인권재판소의 결정례를 중심으로 -

A Study on the Guarantee of the Property Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Americas: with priority given to decision cases by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

According to the UN, there are 500 thousand or more indigenous races in 70 countries in the world, and the number of these peoples is approximately four million. Indigenous people basically refer to those who have resided in a particular region. Currently, indigenous races are confronted with common problems, which are a matter of survival and the infringement of property rights that are triggered by the global economic system and pro-development logics. The residential area of indigenous people is the ground for their collective living and is emotionally associated with them. To protect these people, the UN issued a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the UN General Assembly on October 13, 2007. Conflicts and human rights violation have taken place in the countries of the Americas while the land and resources of indigenous peoples are developed to execute neo-liberalistic economic policies. This phenomenon may be understood as unavoidable sacrifices to ensure national development and interest. In the perspective of the indigenous peoples, however, that is plunder and excessive development that merely aim at the accumulation of capital. As these problems are raised, the UN makes sustained efforts to draw international attention to the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples who are socially disadvantaged. Some advanced countries and businesses are opposed to the activities of the UN to ensure their own profits and secure raw materials. Economic resources are buried in 60 percent of the residential areas of the indigenous peoples in the Americas that had been colonized by Europe, and there are consequently frequent conflicts between the indigenous peoples and the governments. In recent years, such conflicts aren't resolved by domestic judicial authorities, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which is an organization to perform the American Convention on Human Rights, guarantees the traditional property rights of the indigenous peoples when it reaches a verdict.