The Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: An Instrument for Understanding the Indigenous Phenomenon in the Inter-American Human Rights System

Abstract

This article examines the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as an attempt to understand the indigenous phenomenon within the Latin American context. This understanding is imbued with the universal and individual characteristics of human rights, reflecting the predisposition of the organs of the Inter-American System to foster intercultural dialogue in which individual and collective rights coexist, thereby minimizing conflicts between these two philosophies. This work primarily addresses four themes: 1) the potential binding nature of this Draft Declaration, 2) the future legal personality of indigenous peoples, 3) the legal treatment of the interaction between individual and collective rights in the indigenous context once the Draft Declaration is adopted as a final Declaration, and 4) the collective or individual exercise of the right of international petition by indigenous peoples. Reference to the current jurisprudence of the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights will provide insights, allowing us to anticipate, so to speak, the implementation of this forthcoming international instrument.