The “Quimbaya Treasure,” Judgment SU-649/17

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Mejía-Lemos
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Colombian Government ◽  
Treaty Interpretation ◽  
Settlement Of Disputes

The Colombian Constitutional Court (Court) ordered the Colombian government to seek the restitution of a set of 122 golden objects of the Quimbaya people in a judgment issued on October 19, 2017 (Judgment). The Judgment addressed significant issues of international law relating to unilateral acts, treaty interpretation, cultural property (particularly that of indigenous peoples), and the settlement of disputes involving claims for restitution of cultural property through diplomacy and mediation.

Cultural Property and Identity Issues in International Law

2012 ◽  
pp. 256-277
Author(s):  
Athanasios Yupsanis
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
Sacred Objects ◽  
Cultural Sites ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Cultural Relics

Indigenous peoples have historically experienced countless losses of cultural relics and material and spiritual treasures as well as destruction of their sacred cultural sites, a situation that continues to prevail. This desecration of ancestral sites and pillaging of sacred objects results in the cultural debasement of indigenous peoples, causing a serious threat to their continuing collective existence as distinct societies. Unfortunately, the present international law regime for the protection, repatriation, and return of stolen and illegally exported cultural property presents serious deficiencies as regards its ability to reverse this state of affairs and effectively safeguard indigenous peoples’ heritage.

How do you patent a landscape? The perils of dichotomizing cultural and intellectual property

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
RL Barsh
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Indigenous Institutions ◽  
Natural Land ◽  
Scientific Objects ◽  
Cultural Monuments

For a variety of conceptual, historical, and political reasons, contemporary international law distinguishes between 'natural' land forms, cultural monuments, movable cultural property, the performing arts, and scientific knowledge. Indigenous peoples do not make these distinctions. Rather, they tend to regard landscapes as inherently cultural products in which artworks, literature, performances, and scientific-knowledge systems are inextricably embedded. Scientific knowledge must periodically be rehearsed within the landscape in recitations and performances that remember the historical process by which people and their nonhuman kinfolk constructed the landscape. Detaching specific cultural or scientific 'objects' from the landscape and commodifying them, as is contemplated by most current proposals for protecting indigenous peoples' rights, will undermine the indigenous institutions and procedures necessary for perpetuating the quality and validity of local knowledge.

Indigenous Peoples

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russel Lawrence Barsh
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
International Labour Organisation ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right

This article first treats the emergence of indigenous peoples' rights in international law in its historic context. Subsequently, it addresses conceptual issues related to the position of indigenous peoples in international law. These issues concern critical distinctions and assumptions related to the definition of what constitutes an ‘indigenous people’ and, especially, the distinction between minority and indigenous peoples' rights and the collective representation of indigenous peoples. The article also explores the role of indigenous peoples in international environmental law with a focus on distinctively indigenous rights and responsibilities. Indigenous rights, and especially substantive rights, relate to the environment, regardless of whether they are pursued in the context of the International Labour Organisation or the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). The article also looks at community rights and partnerships, rights to land and the environment, political rights, intellectual and cultural property rights, and the right to external self-determination.

Cultural Property and Identity Issues in International Law

2014 ◽  
pp. 976-997
Author(s):  
Athanasios Yupsanis
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
Sacred Objects ◽  
Cultural Sites ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Cultural Relics

Indigenous peoples have historically experienced countless losses of cultural relics and material and spiritual treasures as well as destruction of their sacred cultural sites, a situation that continues to prevail. This desecration of ancestral sites and pillaging of sacred objects results in the cultural debasement of indigenous peoples, causing a serious threat to their continuing collective existence as distinct societies. Unfortunately, the present international law regime for the protection, repatriation, and return of stolen and illegally exported cultural property presents serious deficiencies as regards its ability to reverse this state of affairs and effectively safeguard indigenous peoples’ heritage.

The Role of Domestic Courts in International Human Rights Law: The Constitutional Court of Colombia and Free, Prior and Informed Consent

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-381
Author(s):  
José Parra
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
International Human

The internalization of international law by domestic courts is central to the effective implementation of international human rights law. This is particularly true for emerging rights rooted in soft law. In this regard, indigenous peoples’ rights have significantly expanded in international law over the past 20 years, essentially in the form of soft law. As a case study, the review of the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of Colombia illustrates ‘progressive’ interpretation of soft law, notably on free, prior and informed consent, which is enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Thus, domestic courts not only implement international human rights law, but they also foster its development.

An Asymmetric Comparative International Law Approach to Treaty Interpretation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alec Knight
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Margin Of Appreciation ◽  
Treaty Interpretation

This chapter illustrates an asymmetric comparative international law approach to treaty interpretation through the example of the CEDAW Committee’s greater willingness to go beyond a margin of appreciation to tolerate progressive deviations rather than regressive deviations in the interpretation of CEDAW’s provisions. Section I examines the interactions between the CEDAW Committee and states parties. Section II discusses how the Committee’s asymmetric approach to treaty interpretation fits within a comparative international law project. Section III provides an introduction to the CEDAW Committee. Section IV illustrates the CEDAW Committee’s inflexible treatment of Muslim states parties’ reservations to the Convention, which constitute regressive deviations. Section V analyzes the Committee’s permissive treatment of the Scandinavian approach to CEDAW. Section VI explores how the asymmetric approach allows states to develop interpretations of treaties. Section VII concludes and describes potential future avenues of research into the asymmetric comparative international law approach to treaty interpretation.

Sovereignty, Self-Determination, and Natural Resources

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérémie Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Ambivalent Relationship ◽  
The Right

The issue of sovereignty over natural resources has been a key element in the development of international law, notably leading to the emergence of the principle of States’ permanent sovereignty over their natural resources. However, concomitant to this focus on States’ sovereignty, international human rights law proclaims the right of peoples to self-determination over their natural resources. This has led to a complex and ambivalent relationship between the principle of States’ sovereignty over natural resources and peoples’ rights to natural resources. This chapter analyses this conflicting relationship and examines the emergence of the right of peoples to freely dispose of their natural resources and evaluates its potential role in contemporary advocacy. It notably explores how indigenous peoples have called for the revival of their right to sovereignty over natural resources, and how the global peasants’ movement has pushed for the recognition of the concept of food sovereignty.

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