Abstract
Bolivia is the only country to have “ratified” the UNDRIP, implementing it as domestic law with Law No.3760 of 2007. The Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro-Secure (TIPNIS) is a recognized National Park, a demarked Indigenous Communitarian Native Land, and home to approximately 60-70 indigenous communities. The construction of a highway that crosses the TIPNIS in the middle began in June 2011. The project was approved without any prior consultation, and after two indigenous protest marches, a contested consultation process was organized in late 2012. However, the results were questioned. The completion of the highway appears to be currently blocked, although work on the first stretch has continued. No compensation or redress mechanism for the affected indigenous communities is currently foreseen. Indigenous lawsuits in domestic courts so far have been declared inadmissible. Hence, this case concerns, inter alia, the following indigenous land-related issues: (present) land dispossession; noncompliance with indigenous land demarcation; and non-provision of mechanisms for prevention and/or redress in cases of land dispossession (UNDRIP arts. 8.1, 10, 26 and 28; ILO Convention arts.14-16). Additionally, it concerns indigenous rights to consultation (ILO Convention arts.6 and 16, UNDRIP arts.19 and 32.2, 2009 Bolivian Constitution art.30.2, nos.6, 15 and 16, and other domestic laws) and to free, prior, and informed consent (UNDRIP arts. 10, 19 and 32.2, 2009 Bolivian Constitution art.30.2, no.15 and art.403.1, and other domestic laws).