Caso de los pueblos indígenas Kuna de Madungandí y Emberá de Bayano y sus miembros vs. Panamá

• Author: Andrés Sarmiento-Lamus
• Position: PhD candidate, Leiden University (The Netherlands)
• Pages: 9-38

Int. Law: Rev. Colomb. Derecho Int. Bogotá (Colombia) N° 27: 9-38, julio - diciembre de 2015

CASE OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

KUNA OF MADUNGANDÍ AND EMBERÁ OF

BAYANO AND ITS MEMBERS V. PANAMA*

CASO DE LOS PUEBLOS INDÍGENAS

KUNA DE MADUNGANDÍ Y EMBERÁ DE

BAYANO Y SUS MIEMBROS VS. PANAMÁ

Andrés sArmiento-LAmus**

Reception date: June 25th, 2015

Acceptance date: September 8th, 2015

Available online: November 30th, 2015

to cite this ArticLe / PArA citAr este ArtícuLo

Sarmiento-Lamus, Andrés, Case of Indige nous Com munities Ku na of

Madungand í and Emberá of Bayan o and its Members v. Panama , 27 Inter-

national L aw, Revista Colom biana de Derecho Internaci onal, 9-38 (2015).

http://dx.doi .org/10.11144/Javeri ana.il15-27.cic k

doi:10.11144/Javerian a.il15-27.cick

ISS N:1692 -815 6

* Reexion ar ticle support ed by the Law School of Se rgio Arboled a University / Ar tículo

de reexión qu e cuenta con el apoyo de la Un iversidad Serg io Arboleda y su E scuela de

Derecho.

** PhD candid ate, Leiden Unive rsity (The Netherl ands). Researcher, Sch ool of Law, Uni-

versidad S ergio Arboleda. Memb er of the Colombian Academy o f International Law.

Contact: andres.sarm iento@usa.edu.co

Int. Law: Rev. Colomb. Derecho Int. Bogotá (Colombia) N° 27: 9-38, julio - diciembre de 2015

10 Andrés sArmiento-LAmus

AbstrAct

The judgme nt of 14 October 2014 in the Cas e of Indigenous Commu nities

Kuna of Madu ngandí and Emberá of Baya no and its members v. Panam á,

concerned the alle ged inter national res ponsibil ity of Panama for, inter

alia, the conti nuous violation of the right to c ollective proper ty of the in-

digenous com munities due t o the failure to com pensate them for st ripping

and ooding of t heir terr itories, for th e constru ction of a hydroele ctric

dam. The Int er-American Cou rt of Human Rig hts decided i n its judgment

to be without jur isdiction ratio ne temporis to proce ed to the merits of t his

claim. The a rticle argue s the decision of th e Inter-American Cou rt of Hu-

man Rights wa s incorre ct from the sta ndpoint of the co ntinuous violati ons

doctrin e, as well as it arg ues that the Inter-Americ an Court of Huma n

Rights mis sed a unique opport unity to set forth the sc ope of its jurisdic -

tion rat ione tempori s with regard to e xpropriations and the obligations

derivi ng from it for States. Therefore, an appr aisal and acknowledg ment

of judge Ferrer Mac -Gregor Poisot part ial dissenting op inion is made, as

sole disse nter in this aspe ct of the judgment.

Keywords: Jurisdiction ratione temporis; continuous v iolations; right t o

property; c ompensation