Indigenous Autonomy and the Contradictions of Plurinationalism in Bolivia

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (03) ◽  
pp. 46-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Tockman ◽  
John Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Resource Extraction ◽  
Indigenous Autonomy ◽  
Party Strategy ◽  
Renewable Natural Resources ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Indigenous Territories ◽  
The Government ◽  
Economic Development Model

Abstract The government of Bolivia led by President Evo Morales and the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party claims to be constructing a new postliberal or plurinational state. However, this alleged experiment in plurinationalism conflicts with two central elements of government and MAS party strategy: the expansion of the economic development model based on the extraction of non-renewable natural resources, and the MAS's efforts to control political space, including indigenous territories. This article analyzes these contradictions by examining how Bolivia's constitution and legal framework appear to support indigenous autonomy while simultaneously constraining it. Specifically, it explores how political and bureaucratic processes have seriously limited opportunities to exercise indigenous rights to autonomy. The article makes a comparative analysis of the implications of Bolivia's experience for indigenous autonomy and plurinationalism for other resource extraction–dependent states.

scholarly journals Section 35 Legal Framework: Implications for Evaluation

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Patrick Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
Program Evaluations ◽  
Indigenous Nations ◽  
The Government ◽  
Relationship Of

Developments in Canada’s constitutional and legal framework since 1982 set the stage for the current Liberal government’s nation to nation policy which recognizes Indigenous rights and seeks to build a relationship of respect and partnership through reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. These developments have important implications for those engaged in policy and program evaluations who are now called upon - not only by their own professional ethics but by the legal principles flowing from section 35 - to reimagine their approach and work as partners with Indigenous nations based on the recognition of Indigenous rights, reconciliation and the Crown’s duty to act honourably in all of its dealings with Indigenous peoples. There are no off the shelf answers for how this can be done. Evaluations professionals will need to be guided by these key legal principles and the progressive view set out in the Liberal government’s Principles Respecting the Government of Canada’s Nation to Nation Relationship with Indigenous Peoples.  

scholarly journals Indigenous Influence and Engagement in Mining Permitting in British Columbia, Canada: Lessons for Sweden and Norway?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Allard ◽  
Deborah Curran
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Collaborative Decision Making ◽  
Indigenous Territories ◽  
Legislative Reforms ◽  
United Nations Declaration ◽  
Collaborative Decision

AbstractMine developments in Indigenous territories risk disrupting Indigenous cultures and their economies, including spiraling already high levels of conflict. This is the situation in Canada, Sweden, and Norway, as elsewhere, and is fostered by current state legal framework that reflect historical trajectories, although circumstances are gradually changing. Promising institutional changes have taken place in British Columbia (BC), Canada, with respect to new legislative reforms. Notably, new legislation from 2019 intends to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in the province, by promoting consent-based and collaborative decision-making mechanisms. New environmental assessment legislation is another example; this legislation includes early engagement, collaborative decision-making, and Indigenous-led assessments. The article’s aim is, first, to analyze how Indigenous communities can influence and engage in the mining permitting system of BC, and, secondly, to highlight the positive features of the BC system using a comparative lens to identify opportunities for Sweden and Norway regarding mining permitting and Indigenous rights. Applying a legal-scientific and comparative analysis, the article analyzes traditional legal sources. The article concludes that the strong points that the BC regime could offer the two Nordic countries are: the concept of reconciliation, incorporation of UNDRIP, the spectrum of consultation and engagement approaches, and the structure of environmental assessments. All three jurisdictions, however, struggle with balancing mine developments and securing Indigenous authority and influence over land uses in their traditional territories.

scholarly journals Reframing Indigenous Territories: Private Property, Human Rights and Overlapping Claims

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Thom
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
The Core ◽  
Indigenous Territories ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Of Canada

This paper considers the implications of the powerful "overlapping territories" map produced by the government of Canada in its attempt to refute human rights violations charges brought by Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The map is at the core of Canada's defense in that it suggests that overlapping indigenous territories negate claims of exclusivity over the land and therefore any kind of obligations the state may have in respect of human or other indigenous rights in those lands. Revealing the limits of cartographic abstractions of indigenous spatialities, as well as the perilous stakes for indigenous peoples when engaging in conventional discourses of territoriality, these issues have broad significance.

Natural Resources Claims, Land Conflicts and Self-Empowerment of Indigenous Movements in the Cono Sur – The Case of the Mapuche People in Chile

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Tomaselli
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Indigenous Movements ◽  
Land Conflicts ◽  
Indigenous Territories ◽  
The Impact

Environmental protection and the struggle over natural resources have long been of major concern for indigenous peoples all over Latin America. Notwithstanding the increasing incisiveness of international indigenous rights standards, indigenous peoples have still very limited access to natural resources, or to benefits deriving from them. Nonetheless, the recent ratification by Chile of the ILO Convention No. 169 is having a remarkable, positive impact. In 2009, the Court of Appeal of Temuco and the Supreme Court of Chile blocked a logging exploitation in indigenous territories (Machi Francisca Lincolao v. Forest Enterprise Palermo, sent. 1773-2008 dated 16 September 2009, confirmed by the Supreme Chilean Court on 30 November 2009, sent. 7287-2009) applying the ILO Convention No. 169. Other similar cases followed. These and other actions put forward by indigenous peoples’ movements in Chile, especially Mapuche, seem to be a direct consequence of an increasing awareness of indigenous peoples’ rights and the possibility to raise their voice and be heard within the civil society and at the international level. All the frustration against a legal system which is not responding to indigenous peoples’ demands is now flowing into new movements. This article, therefore, seeks to analyze the impact on indigenous peoples’ movements and the rise of new conflicts linked to the claims over natural resources and land rights in current Chile. The aim is thus to illustrate the interrelation between the Chilean inadequate legal framework, and the claims, conflicts and the self-empowerment of indigenous movements also in the Cono Sur.

Rights of the Child

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asha Bajpai
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Legal Definition ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
The Government ◽  
Definition Of

The chapter commences with the change in the perspective and approach relating to children from welfare to rights approach. It then deals with the legal definition of child in India under various laws. It gives a brief overview of the present legal framework in India. It states briefly the various policies and plans, and programmes of the Government of India related to children. International law on the rights of the child is enumerated and a summary of the important judgments by Indian courts are also included. The chapter ends with pointing out the role of civil society organizations in dealing with the rights of the child and a mention of challenges ahead.

Contributory Fault under International Law: A Gateway for Human Rights in ISDS?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farouk El-Hosseny ◽  
Patrick Devine
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Investment Treaty ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Government ◽  
Bear Creek ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract The intersection between foreign investment and human rights is gaining attention, as is evident from an increasing number of investment treaty awards analysing legal issues relating to human rights. In the recent International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration of Bear Creek v Peru, Philippe Sands QC posited, in a dissenting opinion, that the investor’s contribution to events—ie protests against its allegedly adverse environmental impact and disregard of indigenous rights, namely resulting from its ‘inability to obtain a “social licence”’—which led to the unlawful expropriation of its investment, was ‘significant and material’. He further noted that the investor’s ‘responsibilities are no less than those of the government’ and found that damages should thus be reduced. Last year, the Netherlands adopted a new model bilateral investment treaty (BIT), which allows tribunals to ‘take into account non-compliance by the investor with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises’ when assessing damages. These recent developments shed light on how states and tribunals, as part of their decision-making process, can take into account human rights in practice, and crucially in respect of damages analyses. By first dissecting the concept of contributory fault, then shedding light on the intersection of investment treaty law and human rights, as elucidated in recent jurisprudence, this article questions whether there now exists a gateway for human rights obligations (soft or hard) in the investment treaty arbitration realm through the concept of contributory fault.

Mitigation and Adaptation through Environmental Impact Assessment Litigation: Rethinking the Prospect of Climate Change Litigation in China

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Xiangbai He
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Regulatory Effects ◽  
The Government ◽  
Legal Barriers

Abstract There are two general pathways towards climate change litigation in China: tort-based litigation to hold carbon emitters accountable in civil law, and administrative litigation against the government to demand better climate regulation. While the first pathway is gaining momentum among Chinese scholars, this article argues that legal barriers to applying tort-based rules to climate change should be fairly acknowledged. The article argues that China's legal framework for environmental impact assessment (EIA) provides more openness and flexibility for the resolution of climate change disputes. Therefore, EIA-based climate lawsuits, which challenge environmental authorities for not adequately taking climate change factors into account in decision-making processes, encounter relatively fewer legal barriers, require less radical legal or institutional reform, and have greater potential to maintain existing legal orders. The regulatory effects produced by EIA-based litigation suggest that the scholarship on climate change litigation in China should take such litigation seriously because it could influence both governments and emitters in undertaking more proactive efforts. This China-based study, with a special focus on judicial practice in the largest developing country, will shine a light on China's contribution to transnational climate litigation.

Realising Ainu indigenous rights: a commentary on Hiroshi Maruyama's ‘Japan's post-war Ainu policy. Why the Japanese Government has not recognised Ainu indigenous rights?’

Polar Record ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naohiro Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Japanese Government ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
United Nations Declaration

ABSTRACTThis commentary reviews Maruyama's article ‘Japan's post-war Ainu policy: why the Japanese Government has not recognised Ainu indigenous rights?’ (Maruyama 2013a), published in this journal. Maruyama criticises the government for its reluctance to enact a new Ainu law to guarantee indigenous rights, even after Japan's ratification of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). However, in actuality, the government is searching for the foundation of new Ainu policies in the existing legal frameworks and trying to guarantee some elements of indigenous rights. Japan's case suggests the possibility of realising indigenous rights without the enactment of a specific law.

A review of domestic waste management policy and law in Singapore

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-119
Author(s):  
Rosie Syme
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
Waste Incineration ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Domestic Waste ◽  
Waste Management System ◽  
Waste Management Policy ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
The Government

An effective waste management system is, and has always been, essential infrastructure, particularly given the potential for waste to adversely impact the surrounding environment. In recent decades, however, there has been growing awareness of the scale, breadth and immediacy of those adverse impacts, and of the unsustainability of the enormous (and increasing) amount of waste society generates. Governments around the world have mobilised and there has been a widespread shift towards policies promoting circular economies, waste minimisation and maximised resource efficiency. Singapore is a case in point; despite having a traditionally high waste output and a waste management system dependent on waste incineration as the primary means of disposal, Singapore has committed to a zero waste future. This article presents a review of domestic waste management policy and law in Singapore. Several gaps in the legal framework are identified and considered against the broader context, leading to the conclusion that there is a material environmental vulnerability in the legal framework that should be redressed in order to entrench environmental protections and to align the law with Singapore's policy ambitions. Notwithstanding this deficiency, it is hard not to be optimistic about the future of domestic waste management in Singapore, as the government has made an ambitious policy commitment and appears to be pursuing it with vigour.

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