Expropriation of the Land of Indigenous Populations

11. In recent decades, various forms of economic activity based on the use of natural resources have steadily expanded into land traditionally occupied by indigenous populations.

In most cases, the rights of the indigenous inhabitants have been ignored when the expansion of large-scale agricultural concerns, the establishment of hydroelectric plants and the exploitation of mineral resources, and of oil and timber in areas of expanding agricultural frontiers have been decided, planned and implemented.(¹⁰)

The law is respected while all this is taking place. However, the property rights upheld by the law are in conflict with the right of use of the soil deriving from an occupation and ownership of the land the origins of which are lost in memory.

In the culture and spirituality of indigenous populations, land is seen as the basis of every value and as the unifying factor that nourishes their identity. However, when the first great landholdings were formed, these peoples lost the legal right to ownership of land on which they had lived for centuries, which means that they can now be dispossessed without warning whenever the old or new holders of legal title to the property want to take physical possession, even if they have shown no interest in it for dozens of years.

Indigenous populations can also run the absurd but very real risk of being seen as "invaders" of their own land.

The only ways they can avoid expulsion from their own land is by agreeing to work for the large companies or by emigrating. In any case, they are deprived of their land and their culture.