The indigenous community of Awas Tingni filed suit in Nicaragua last month, hoping to compel the nation’s government to comply with a groundbreaking land-rights ruling issued in Aug. 2001 by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). In that ruling, the IACHR held that the government had violated the property rights of Awas Tingni’s Mayagna people when it granted a timber concession on their Atlantic-Coast territory. The court ruled the government must give the community title to its land, marking the first time it has linked human rights and indigenous land rights. Last month’s suit represents an attempt by Awas Tingni to get Nicaragua’s Supreme Court involved. Filed in appellate court, it requests that the case be forwarded to the Supreme Court... [Log in to read more]