The inter-American court and the right to «indigenous communal property»: An analysis in the perspective of recognition and cultural diversity

The paper aims to analyze the construction of the so-called derecho al territorio (right to land) of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples by Inter-American Court, adopting an interdisciplinary methodological perspective. Such a perspective responds to the particular nature of the topic. We shall argue the relevance of «pluralism» and of the «paradigm of recognition» with reference to the most important debates on collective rights. Then, we shall study the contribution provided by the IACHR for the construction of a collective right to property of the ancestral territories. Our goal is to analyze how the case law of the IACHR has gradually moved towards the recognition of collective rights, conceiving the derecho al territorio as a sort of «mother-right», which represents the base for the enjoyment of human rights of Indigenous Peoples.