Engstrom, Par;
Perez, Edward;
(2025)
Confronting extractivism: The Inter-American Human Rights System and indigenous rights in Latin America.
In: Behrend, Jacqueline and Whitehead, Laurence, (eds.)
Mounting Pressures on the Rule of Law Governability for Development and Democracy in Latin America.
(pp. 212-235).
Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group: New York, NY, US.
Preview |
PDF
Confronting extractivism_25_02_12_08_22_55.pdf - Published Version Download (509kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Across the Americas, where extractivism remains the dominant model of development, the surge in socio-environmental conflicts in recent decades constitutes a distinct challenge to the rule of law and basic governability. From lithium extraction in Chile, hydro-electrical projects in Brazil, oil exploitation in Ecuador, to gold mining in Colombia and Guatemala, the typically private-driven, export-oriented extraction, and exploitation of land and natural resources has generated widespread opposition by local communities, with governments regularly responding to popular resistance with repression and violence. The region's indigenous and Afro-descendent communities are particularly affected, given the significance of land and natural resources for their livelihoods, and in many contexts, their collective survival. In this context, the Inter-American Human Rights System (IAHRS) has become increasingly involved in conflicts over land and natural resource extraction. The Inter-American Court has been in the vanguard of the international development of indigenous rights as they pertain to land and natural resources. This chapter explains how the IAHRS has navigated the tensions between the protection of local communities, particularly indigenous people, on the one hand, and large-scale extractivism promoted and supported by governments, on the other hand. The chapter discusses specific case studies to illustrate the role of the IAHRS in shaping the governance of natural resources in the Americas, including with respect to competing legal claims derived from international human rights law, on the one hand, and international investment treaties, on the other hand.
| Type: | Book chapter |
|---|---|
| Title: | Confronting extractivism: The Inter-American Human Rights System and indigenous rights in Latin America |
| ISBN: | 1003519199 |
| ISBN-13: | 9781003519195 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.4324/9781003519195-12 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003519195-12 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s), 2025. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CC-BY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Laws UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Institute of the Americas |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204673 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
