L'IMPLEMENTAZIONE DELLA "CONVENZIONE ILO N.169" : EFFETTI SULLA GESTIONE DELLE TERRE COLLETTIVE IN ARGENTINA E CILE.

Abstract In the light of the inexorable scarcity of natural resources of the territory, the growing phenomenon of land-grabbing, the rediscovery of the importance of the commons and, as a consequence, their sustainable management, the research that I have designed aims to highlight the role played by international norms in the redefinition of local land assets. In particular, my focus is on the ILO International Labour Organization) Convention no. 169 on the rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, in which a special section (Part II) is devoted to the recognition of their collective property rights on the so-called ancestral lands. I have chosen to focus my thesis on the C169 because, twisting the protection of human rights with the issue of land property rights, and being to date the sole tool of supranational law that, if ratified, will assume the force of law, this Convention should play a key role in redesigning the current territorial demarcation and, therefore, in reducing the asymmetry of economic power between different social groups. Given the enormous potential of C169 – a key agreement for the concrete realization of the rights it recognizes – I decided to check its effectiveness in two case studies where the conflicts on the use of land resources and on the Indigenous Peoples rights are sadly current and inexplicably overlooked. I am referring to Argentina and Chile, where C169 was ratified in 2000 and 2008 respectively, with special attention to the Northern Argentine Province of Salta and to the IX Chilean Region. This doctoral dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first one is addressed to analyze the dilemma of the commons, reviewing the interdisciplinary literature on this topic, ranging from anthropology to history, as well as to the study of human rights and land rights (and the struggles related to such claims). The focus is especially placed on the Latin American issue and its evolution in time. In the second chapter, I have highlighted the chameleonic role of law in managing the commons, which goes from being a tool of oppression in the colonial era to becoming a corrective expedient of the historical errors made in the past. The role of international law, that has been increasingly important within the State borders, is discussed in the third chapter, devoted to the incorporation of the ILO Convention no. 169 in both the national Argentine and Chilean legal systems. Chapter four describes my own field observations, intended to integrate the legislative, judicial and administrative documentation collected, as well as some additional informational material drawn from both the local press and from the NGOs activity on this issue. My own field research consisted in semi-structured interviews and informal discussion with privileged witnesses, directly or indirectly involved in the C169 implementation process, made in Buenos Aires, Salta, Embarcación, Santiago de Chile and Temuco. Therefore, the aim of my inquiry, which – I think – could be described as an evaluation research, is to verify how Argentina and Chile have committed themselves so far to the enforcement of the principles laid down in C169, assessing the so-called implementation process, by pointing out gaps, inconsistencies and possible perverse effects vis-à-vis the logic that underlies the values of the Convention, and showing similarities and differences between the Argentine and the Chilean implementation model.