Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo

Sommario

1. Considerazioni preliminari. – 2. Un solo pueblo, una sola nación, un solo estado. – 3. Il nuovo movimento “indigenista”. – 4. Liberalismo, comunitarismo e multiculturalismo. – 5. La Costituzione colombiana del 1991 ed il riconoscimento dei diritti culturali. – 6. Il diritto di proprietà collettiva. – 7. “Interpretazione di culture”. – 8. La comunità indigena come soggetto di diritto. – 9. Diritti collettivi e diritti individuali: un’ipotesi di conflitto. –10. La giurisdizione indigena. – 11. Il riparto di competenze tra giurisdizione indigena e giurisdizione nazionale.

Abstract

The article analyzes the protection of ethnic and cultural diversity in the Colombian Constitution of 1991. The study of some jurisprudential cases represents the instrument to recognize in which terms we can speak of multiculturalism in Colombia. Even if the Constitutional Court – the main guardian of the progressive contents of the Constitution – has worked to guarantee protection to minority groups, the adopted solutions are sometimes not coherent with a dynamic idea of culture. The problems broached by the Court deal with central aspects of the debate between liberals and communitarians, such as the universality of human rights, the recognition of groups rights, the freedom of conscience. The Court has tried to establish a balance of several interests and to adapt fundamental “western” principles (such as due process of law) to the indigenous context, but the decisions of the Court sometimes seem to be oriented to preserve uncontaminated spaces and a status of cultural separateness. Nonetheless, the Court’s decision-making has reinforced the possibility of building a multicultural nation.