indigenous communities to use their ancestral lands for agriculture and hunting
in order to block an environmentally harmful project.
153.
For its part, the Inter-American Commission interpreted the right to life to
protect communities threatened by environmental degradation. In the case of
the Yarzomnni Indigenous People of Brazil, the Commission on 5 March 1985
considered the connection between the destruction of the environment and
natural resources and the right to life, in response to a Communication
submitted by Yanomani indigenous people of Brazil.
154. In
this
regard,
the
Commission's
Working
Group
on
Indigenous
Populations/Communities recognised that some African minorities arc facing
dispossession of their lands and that special measures are needed to ensure
their survival, in accordance with their traditions and customs.*6
155.
In view of the foregoing, the African Commission draws the following
conclusions:
a.
the traditional possession of their land by indigenous people has effects
equivalent to those of a title granted by the State;
b.
traditional possession implies that indigenous people have the right to
demand official recognition and registration of title deed;
C.
indigenous community
members who
have
involuntarily left
their
ancestral land, or who have lost possession of it, retain the right to
possession and ownership, even if they do not have legal title, unless the
land has been legally transferred to bona fide third parties; and
d.
Members of an indigenous community who have involuntarily lost
possession of their land, where such land has been lawfully transferred
to bona fide third parties, are entitled to restitution of the land in question
or to obtain other land of equal size and quality.
156.
However, total or partial expropriation is not in itself a violation of Article 14
of the Charter as long as it is done in accordance with the law. Indeed, Article
14 of the
African Charter provides for a double condition should such
expropriation be unavoidable: it must be done "in the interest ofpuhlic need or in
the general interest of the commzmih/" and "in nccorrfmzcv with the provisions of
appropriate laws".
46 See the Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Working Group on Indigenous
Populations/Communities, ado9i,1
f1§75(rican Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights at its 28"
Ordinary Session, p. 26 and 2'l..;.°"<,<~21*'"'
\
.f ac
l
.
1.
*L
31