Case of Indigenous Communities Kuna of Madungandí and Emberá of Bayano and its Members v. Panama

Abstract

The judgment of 14 October 2014 in the Case of Indigenous Communities Kuna of Madungandí and Emberá of Bayano and its members v. Panamá, concerned the alleged international responsibility of Panama for, inter alia, the continuous violation of the right to collective property of the indigenous communities due to the failure to compensate them for stripping and flooding of their territories, for the construction of a hydroelectric dam. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights decided in its judgment to be without jurisdiction ratione temporis to proceed to the merits of this claim. The article argues the decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights was incorrect from the standpoint of the continuous violations doctrine, as well as it argues that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights missed a unique opportunity to set forth the scope of its jurisdiction ratione temporis with regard to expropriations and the obligations deriving from it for States. Therefore, an appraisal and acknowledgment of judge Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot partial dissenting opinion is made, as sole dissenter in this aspect of the judgment.