E/CN.4/2004/80/Add.2
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Internally displaced persons
81.
A national body should be established as a matter of priority to deal with persons
internally displaced for any reason, and should be provided with the necessary resources to
care for their needs, including, where necessary, compensation for damage.
Justice
82.
The system of justice for indigenous people should be thoroughly reviewed at the
national level, with broad-based and flexible criteria and extensive participation by the
indigenous people.
83.
Agrarian justice should also be reviewed as it affects the collective rights of the
indigenous communities and peoples, bearing in mind traditional methods of land use and
customary forms of solving conflicts and disputes.
84.
More specifically, it is recommended that the office of the agrarian procurator
should maintain closer contact with indigenous agrarian groups; the personnel (inspectors,
agrarian lawyers and interns) working in areas where there are indigenous people need to
have the right profile; there need to be more bilingual personnel; and they need to be
effective in defending and advising indigenous people on agrarian questions before the
courts.
85.
The agrarian courts, in all cases involving indigenous people, should have available
official translators and defence counsel familiar with the culture and circumstances of the
indigenous communities. It is a matter of urgency to consolidate, train and extend the
coverage of bilingual translators in courts and public prosecutors’ offices, and official
defence lawyers in indigenous areas.
86.
It is a matter of urgency to review the case files of all indigenous persons prosecuted
in federal, civil and military courts so as to identify and, where necessary, remedy any
irregularities, particularly as regards environmental, agrarian and health offences.
87.
The National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples should be
assigned a greater role in the expert assessment and early release of indigenous prisoners.
The Special Rapporteur also recommends closer work, in matters of justice for indigenous
people, with the institutions ensuring and dispensing justice, in all areas, with the judiciary
itself, and in advisory services to State and municipal bodies, with civil society
organizations.
88.
The national system of ombudsmen (National and State Human Rights
Commissions) should pay increased attention to indigenous human rights, with particular
stress on the judicial system.
89.
All police personnel from any force, military personnel or civil authority guilty of
the physical or mental torture of indigenous or non-indigenous detainees should be
prosecuted and punished, while torture as an offence should be incorporated into the
criminal codes of the States.