This research project explores the recognition of the right to traditional lands and natural resources by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and their interrelation with Indigenous Peoples’ rights to cultural identity and dignified life. Worldwide, indigenous peoples have suffered from the lack of recognition of their right to enjoy and own the lands and natural resources that they have traditionally occupied and used since time immemorial. The lack of access to these lands and territories has not only endangered their physical survival, but also the perpetuation of their ancestral culture as well as the maintenance and development of their distinguishable cultural identity.
