20 The expert witness referred to “the most relevant aspects” of the legal framework in effect in Paraguay which is applicable to the instant case. Thus, he expressly referred to the provisions contained in the National Constitution, to ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, to Law No. 904/81 on the Status of Indigenous Communities), as well as to the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the legislation on environmental and judicial matters, ministerial resolutions, and resolutions issued by the Office of the Attorney General. The Executive Order containing the regulations for enforcing Law No. 904/81 on the Status of Indigenous Communities is still pending, but several amendments have been made thereto, among them Law No. 2199/03 which dissolved the Junta Consultiva (Advisory Board) and the Consejo Directivo (Governing Board) of the Instituto Paraguayo del Indígena (Paraguayan Institute on Indigenous Affairs), which is now under the control of a President appointed by the Executive, as well as Law No. 919/96, which amended and extended Articles 30, 31, 62, 63 (d) and 71 of Law No. 904/81 on the Status of Indigenous Communities. On the other hand, on November 10, 2005 the National Congress of Paraguay passed Bill No. 2922/2005 on the Status of Indigenous Peoples and Communities, which would supersede Law No. 904/81 on the Status of Indigenous Communities. Several Articles of said bill were challenged by the Executive, whereby it was returned to Congress, which shall finally resolve after the legislative recess. The expert witness stated that the Judiciary in Paraguay does not include specific courts for agricultural matters, wherefore land management is under the administrative control of the Instituto de Bienestar Rural (Institute of Rural Welfare) (which at present is the Instituto de Desarrollo Rural y de la Tierra –INDERT (Institute for Rural Development and Land Issues) a government agency which distributes lands and settles conflicts in the first instance, and whose decisions can be appealed before the Tribunal de Cuentas (Government Auditing Office). The expert witness concluded that the indigenous legislation of Paraguay, on the whole, may be considered to be favorable to the interests of the indigenous peoples. The Paraguayan legal system recognizes the special way indigenous peoples relate to the lands and territories they occupy or use in any way, and establishes their right to ownership and possession of the lands they traditionally occupy. In sum, it is possible to say that, Paraguay has a constitutional and legal framework which is quite advanced and that what is missing is the effective promotion and enforcement of the laws which protect indigenous peoples in the context of a national society that is still quite racist. The main weakness of the legislation lies in the ineffectual scope of the procedure; some provisions are merely declaratory and the operational instances provided for in the legislation do not have the authority or the power to fully enforce the provisions thereof. Failure to comply with the law is not punished, and therefore, it is enforced only partially or at will by the individuals who are bound thereby. In order to render constitutional and legal provisions effective, Paraguay must create an effective mechanism to claim the ancestral lands, whereby the right to property of the indigenous communities may be enforced, pursuant to the American Convention. B) EVIDENCE ASSESSMENT 35. In this section the Court shall rule on the assessment of the evidence tendered to the Tribunal, regarding both the formal admissibility standards applicable thereto and their material value relating the facts in the instant case.

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