I POPOLI INDIGENI NELL'ORDINAMENTO INTERNAZIONALE: DIRITTO ALLA TERRA E DIRITTI UMANI

The indigenous peoples, who have not had the opportunity to participate in the creation of international law, have learned to use it to assert its own claims. In particular,on the basis of the principles and the existing system of human rights, indigenous peoples have made their demands for justice and they are now among the interests and priorities of the international agenda. Indigenous groups are among the most marginalized and vulnerable in the world and the international community has recognized the urgency for action to protect fundamental human rights of these peoples, who, as they reside in different parts of the world and have different characteristics, have shared the same centuries-old history of oppression and discrimination. The purpose of this study is to analyze how the tools of the international system of human rights have been able to meet the requirements of the protection of indigenous peoples. In particular, the first chapter will be addressed to set up the origins of the main issues related to the demands of this specific group, starting with the right to ancestral territories and the affirmation of the combination of the right to life and the right to land, which is also accepted by practices of organizations to protect universal human rights, analyzed in the second chapter. In the third section will be detailed the case law of the regional courts of human rights with regard to indigenous peoples through the study of the different contributions in the European, African and American context. Particular attention will be devoted to the work of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which has maneged an "evolutionary" interpration of the fundamental human rights principles, in order to promote an effective protection of indigenous peoples. The Inter-American Court has also made provision for remedial measures for violations of human rights of these peoples, reconciling the principles of restoring justice typical of the indigenous vision with the classical system of human rights guarantees. The Court for the first time has recognized the right to land in its collective dimension, in recognition of this right as a fundamental condition for the protection of all human rights of indigenous individuals. To get a complete overview of international instruments for the protection of indigenous peoples, in the fourth chapter will be analyzed the role of the ILO, as the first UN agency to turn its attention to this group and to produce the only two legally binding international instruments for a specific protection of indigenous peoples rights. The ILO Conventions n. 107 and n. 169 have been of great importance for the recognition of indigenous peoples into national law of States which have ratified them and have influenced the language and the formulation of soft law instruments dedicated to indigenous rights, as can be deduced from analysis carried out in the fifth chapter of the work.