Resource Nationalism and the Violation of Indigenous Rights in Mexico’s Oil Industry: The Case of a Chontal Community in Tabasco

2021 ◽  
pp. 2631309X2110519
Author(s):  
Marcela Torres-Wong
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Environmental Contamination ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Resource Nationalism ◽  
Mexican Government ◽  
Fossil Fuel Industry ◽  
The Right

For decades, Indigenous communities living in Mexico’s oil-producing state of Tabasco suffered violence, environmental contamination, and the destruction of their traditional livelihood. The administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) taking office in 2018 promised to govern for the poorest people in Mexico, emphasizing the wellbeing of Indigenous peoples. However, as part of his nationalist agenda AMLO is pursuing aggressive exploitation of hydrocarbons upon the lead of state-owned company Pemex. This article argues that the Mexican government still denies Indigenous peoples living nearby oil reserves the right to self-determination. We examine this phenomenon through the Chontal community of Oxiacaque in the state of Tabasco suffering environmental contamination and health problems caused by the oil industry. We emphasize the government’s use of resource nationalism to legitimize violence against Indigenous communities and their natural environments. Further, the expansion of social programs and infrastructure building serves to obtain Indigenous compliance with the unsustainable fossil fuel industry.

Part Two Rights, 8 The Rights of Indigenous Peoples

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Espinosa Manuel José Cepeda ◽  
Landau David
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Cultural Autonomy ◽  
The Right

The Colombian Constitution of 1991 sets up an extensive set of indigenous rights, in order to protect the cultural autonomy of groups that have historically been repressed throughout most of Latin America. This chapter reviews the case law of the Colombian Constitutional Court on that topic. It considers the interpretation of provisions giving indigenous communities autonomy in their justice system and other internal affairs. Applying these provisions, the Court has allowed non-traditional punishments such as whipping, so long as they did not fall afoul of fundamental precepts of international or constitutional law. This chapter also includes a review of the Court’s extensive jurisprudence on the right of indigenous communities to prior consultation before economic or governmental projects are undertaken on their lands.

scholarly journals Beyond Academia: Indigenous media as an intercultural resource to unlearn nation-state history

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (21) ◽  
pp. 29-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Lehman
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Indigenous Media ◽  
Nation States ◽  
State History ◽  
The Right

This article proposes that settler communities cannot teach or understand our shared intercultural history without listening to ideas presented by Indigenous communities about their own history in lands currently occupied by modern nation- -states. This history enables us to understand the power of the ethnographic gaze and its relation to The Doctrine of Discovery (1493), which extinguished Indigenous rights to lands and resources, rights later transferred to the modern nation- -states through the legal notion of “eminent domain”. These rights include the ownership of intangibles such as the image and storytelling through photography and film. Maori scholars Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Barry Barclay and Merata Mita are cited on knowledge production, copyright and image sovereignty to decolonise our understanding of the right to self-representation. The study includes a brief analysis of films that help decolonise an ethnographic gaze at these relationships, particularly the Brazilian documentary “O Mestre e o Divino” by Tiago Campos Torre (2013).Keywords: Indigenous peoples. Nation-state history. Film. Self- -determination.

scholarly journals TECHNOPOLITICS OF A CONCESSIONARY CONTRACT: HOW INTERNATIONAL LAW WAS TRANSFORMED BY ITS ENCOUNTER WITH ANGLO-IRANIAN OIL

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katayoun Shafiee
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Resource Nationalism ◽  
International Court ◽  
Court Proceedings ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Foreign Control ◽  
The Right

AbstractThe Iranian government's decision to nationalize its British-controlled oil industry in 1951 was a landmark case in international law. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and the Iranian government clashed over whether international authorities had the right to arbitrate for them in disputes over the terms of the oil concession. Scholarship in Middle East studies has overlooked the role of concession terms in shaping political disputes in the 20th century. Rather than seeing legal studies of the oil industry on one side and power struggles and resources on the other, this article examines international court proceedings at The Hague to argue that Anglo-Iranian oil transformed international law. Novel mechanisms of economic and legal governance, set up to deal with an expanded community of nation-states, worked as techniques of political power that equipped the oil corporation with the power to associate Iran's oil with foreign control while generating new forms of law and contract that undermined resource nationalism.

The Right of Political Participation of Indigenous Peoples and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-144
Author(s):  
Daniela Arrese
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Specific Approach ◽  
Critical Account ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Right ◽  
Systemic Discrimination ◽  
Electoral Quotas

This article explains the obligations the international legal framework on the rights of indigenous peoples imposes on States regarding the right to political participation, in particular, the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Because of the historical exclusion and marginalization of these groups, mere recognition of the right of participation in domestic legal systems is insufficient to ensure the full enjoyment of the right by indigenous communities. Instead, States are obliged to adopt active measures to overcome the systemic discrimination indigenous peoples have been subject to. This article focuses on one of the many aspects of political participation, i.e., electoral participation. It provides both a typology and a critical account of different mechanisms States use to increase and promote the participation of indigenous peoples in electoral processes, specifically in elections for legislative bodies and in constitution-making processes. These mechanisms include the provision for reserved seats in parliament, the creation of special indigenous electoral districts, and the establishment of special electoral quotas for candidacies presented by political parties. The article argues that the effectiveness of each approach cannot be evaluated in abstracto, but must be assessed against the particular context in which a specific approach is adopted. Most importantly, the success of any specific approach should be measured by the extent to which they allow indigenous communities to have an actual chance at influencing political decision-making, particularly in situations that affect them.

The Politics of Free, Prior and Informed Consent: Indigenous Rights and Resource Governance in Ecuador and Yukon, Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-356
Author(s):  
Roberta Rice
Keyword(s):  
Informed Consent ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Resource Governance ◽  
Mineral Rights ◽  
Natural Resource Development ◽  
The Right ◽  
Surface Mineral ◽  
Hybrid Regime

What are the institutional arrangements required to implement a genuine process of free, prior and informed consent (fpic)? This article provides a comparative perspective on the politics of consent in the context of relations between Indigenous peoples, states and extractive industries in Canada and Latin America. The case of Ecuador is presented as an emblematic example of a hybrid regime in which Indigenous communities have the right to free, prior and informed consultation, not consent, concerning planned measures affecting them, such as mineral, oil and gas exploitation. In the case of Yukon, Canada, the settlement of a comprehensive land claim with sub-surface mineral rights has provided the institutional basis for the implementation of a genuine fpic process, one that includes participatory decision-making power over natural resource development projects. The article concludes with a discussion on the necessary conditions for moving governments from a consultation to a consent regime.

Part VI International Assistance, Reparations, and Redress, Ch.18 Legal Implementation and International Cooperation and Assistance: Articles 37–42

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
van Genugten Willem ◽  
Lenzerini Federico
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Political Commitments ◽  
United Nations Declaration ◽  
The Right

This chapter discusses Articles 37–42, considering legal implementation and international cooperation and assistance. Article 37 recognizes that treaties, agreements, and other constructive arrangements between States and indigenous populations reflect legally important entitlements that have to be honoured by applying the standards of modern treaty law, while taking into consideration the facts of cases at hand and later developments, and including the interests of other parties than the original ones. In addition, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) might be a declaration ‘only’, but it cannot be simply considered as ‘just another’ non-binding argument. Large parts of Articles 37–42 — particularly Article 37, relating to the right that treaties concluded with indigenous peoples are honoured and respected by States, and Article 40, proclaiming the right of indigenous communities to access to justice and to remedies — do have customary international law character, while other parts also reflect more than moral or political commitments ‘only’.

Excluded Uses: Indigenous Rights to Water

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Cosens
Keyword(s):  
Water Resource ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Nation State ◽  
European Contact ◽  
Terra Nullius ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right

Indigenous rights to water follow diverse trajectories across the globe. In Asia and Africa even the concept of indigeneity is questioned and peoples with ancient histories connected to place are defined by ethnicity as opposed to sovereign or place-based rights, although many seek to change that. In South America indigenous voices are rising. In the parts of the globe colonized by European settlement, the definition of these rights has been in a continual state of transition as social norms evolve and indigenous capacity to assert rights grow. From the point of European contact, these rights have been contested. They have evolved primarily through judicial rulings by the highest court in the relevant nation-state. For those nation-states that do address whether indigenous rights to land and water exist, the approach has ranged from the 18th- and 19th-century doctrines of terra nullius (the land (and resources) belonged to no one) to a recognized right of “use and occupancy” that could be usurped under the doctrine of “discovery” by the conquering power. In the 20th and 21st centuries the evolution of the recognition of indigenous rights remains uneven, reflecting the values, judicial doctrine, and degree to which the contested water resource is already developed in the relevant nation-state. Thus, indigenous rights to water range from the recognition of cultural and spiritual rights that would have been in existence at the time of European contact, to inclusion of subsistence rights, rights sufficient for economic development, rights for homeland purposes, and rights as guardian for a water resource. At the forefront in this process of recognition is the right of indigenous peoples as sovereign to control, allocate, develop and protect their own water resources. This aspirational goal is reflected in the effort to create a common global understanding of the rights of indigenous peoples through declaration and definition of the right of self-determination articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Born the Year after the Flood

2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 921-927
Author(s):  
Jeremie Caribou
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Indigenous Lands ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Governance ◽  
Gain Access

This essay reveals the true history of my people. It demonstrates our highly developed social, spiritual, and political governance structures. Our use of the water systems underscores the ecological integrity of sustainable development that we fostered for thousands of years. Yet, due to colonization and oppressive policies designed to destroy Indigenous identity, culture, and history, Indigenous knowledge and governing systems have been put in jeopardy. Colonial policies intended to dispossess and oppress First Nations by depriving us from Indigenous lands, controlling all aspects of our lives, which created dependence by limiting Indigenous peoples’ abilities to provide for themselves. Furthermore, these policies had no Indigenous input or representation and were designed to eradicate or eliminate Indigenous rights, titles, and the right to self-determination to easily gain access to Indigenous lands for development and industrialization, such as in the case of the massive hydroelectrical dams that continue to alienate my home community today.

scholarly journals DERECHO TERRITORIAL INDÍGENA COMO DERECHO HUMANO. UN ANÁLISIS DEL PROCESO DE AUTODEMARCACIÓN DE TERRITORIOS INDÍGENAS EN VENEZUELA (1999-2014)

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Linda Bustillos ◽  
Vladimir Aguilar ◽  
Carlos Grimaldo
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Illegal Mining ◽  
Politica Publica ◽  
Indigenous Territories ◽  
Irregular Forces ◽  
The Right

La Constitución de 1999 de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela (CRBV) reconoce los derechos indígenas, entre los cuales se encuentra el territorial. De acuerdo con lo que señala el artículo 119 de dicha Carta Magna, el derecho al territorio de estas poblaciones se ejerce a través de la política pública de la demarcación,  entendida como el proceso en el que se deslinda su espacio territorial, proceso realizado por el Estado con participación de los pueblos y comunidades por demarcar, para posteriormente titular la propiedad colectiva de estos grupos.A 15 años de aprobada la Constitución, este proceso de deslinde ha sido lento y equívoco. La demora ha ocasionado que, en la actualidad, estos grupos humanos se encuentren acechados por intereses externos (minería ilegal, proyectos de desarrollo, fuerzas irregulares, entre otros), los cuales amenazan su existencia como culturas diferenciadas ya que el derecho al territorio es un Derecho Humano fundamental para su supervivencia. El presente artículo, es resultado de una investigación de campo. En una primera parte, se analiza la Ley Orgánica de Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas (LOPCI) (2005) en Venezuela, con el propósito de esclarecer en cuál etapa es que se paraliza el proceso de deslinde territorial.Posteriormente, se detalla, como consecuencia de lo anterior, cuántas comunidades y pueblos indígenas se han demarcado y titulado desde el 2005 hasta el 2014. Finalmente, abordamos en las conclusiones, algunos elementos que podrían echar andar nuevamente este proceso de deslinde territorial en Venezuela y alertamos, de su importancia para la supervivencia de estos grupos humanos. Indigenous territorial rights as a human right; an analysis of the (auto) demarcation of indigenous territories process in Venezuela (1999-2014)AbstractThe 1999 Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (CBRV) recognizes Indigenous Rights; among them, the territorial claims. In agreement with what is stated in the article 119 of the Magna Carta, the right to the territory of these populations is exercised through the public policy of demarcation, which is understood as the process in which its territorial space is disclaimed, made by the State in participation with the peoples and communities to be demarcated, subsequently to entitle the collective ownership for these human beings groups.Fifteen years after the Constitution was approved, this process of delineation has been slow and misleading. This delay has caused that in the present, these human beings groups are being stalked by outside interests (illegal mining, development projects, irregular forces, among others) who threaten their existence as distinct cultures; since the right to territory is a fundamental human right for their survival.This article is the result of a field research. In the first part, the study analyzes the Organic Law of Indigenous Peoples and Communities (LOPCI) (2005) in Venezuela, with the purpose of clarifying at what stage the territorial demarcation process is paralyzed; and as a result, it describes how many communities and indigenous peoples have been demarcated and entitled from 2005 to 2014. 

scholarly journals ‘Another Tool in the Kete’: Māori Engaging with the International Human Rights Framework

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Hannah Mackintosh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Methodological Foundation ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
The Way

<p>In this study, I consider how the universal concept of human rights is being engaged with and interpreted by Māori communities in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The rights of indigenous peoples have recently been formally defined within United Nations forums and cemented in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This research argues that the indigenous rights movement indicates a shift in many of the debates that have dominated the global rights rhetoric to a more evolutionary concept of human rights. It suggests that engaging with these debates has the potential to open up new dialogue within the human rights discourse for alternative ways of considering human rights at the global level. This will impact the way that rights-based approaches to development are implemented, engaged with and utilised at the local level. However, currently little is known about the ways in which indigenous communities are using human rights at the local level. This work focuses on a successful rights-based community development programme as a case study. Through this exploration, I consider the levels of empowerment and the positive impacts that resulted from increased knowledge of human rights in the region. I further present some of the principles inherent in the successful application of a rights-based development project. From a methodological perspective, it provides an exploration into the way that research involving indigenous communities is conducted. As a Pākehā researcher working with Māori communities I had to take extra care to ensure that this research had an ethically sound methodological foundation. Taking a critical perspective, I consider some of the political and social implications of being a non-indigenous researcher working with indigenous communities. This work illustrates that highly ethical, critical methodological approaches are essential to any development work. Overall, the research proposes that Māori concepts of human rights are placed within a distinct cultural framework. Human rights are understood and given meaning through Kaupapa Māori, tikanga and whakapapa. They are also framed within the experiences of a colonial history. This research provides an example of how this universal framework is localised to fit particular historical, local and cultural contexts increasing its potential to be a tool for positive social change. It provides a conceptual, methodological and practical inquiry into rights-based approaches as a way of delivering development.</p>

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