A/HRC/45/38 living conditions, as expressed by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which has recognized that the Yakye Axa people’s dispossession and lack of access to traditional land has directly denied them access to such conditions. 26 The right to develop a particular way of life and traditional economic activities connected to the land has also been recognized by the Human Rights Committee, which has underscored that protection of this right is directed towards ensuring the survival and continued development of the cultural identity of indigenous peoples.27 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has stated that the strong communal dimension of indigenous peoples’ cultural life is indispensable to their existence and includes the right to the lands, territories and resources, which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired. 28 12. Both the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Human Rights Committee recognize that the right to life is not limited to the protection against loss of life but that States must take positive measures to safeguard life and physical integrity. In Case of the Xákmok Kásek Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, the Court found that dispossession had led to the death of 13 individuals and that the State was responsible for those deaths. 29 In the words of the Human Rights Committee, the duty to protect life also implies that States parties should take appropriate measures to address the general conditions in society that may give rise to direct threats to life or prevent individuals from enjoying their right to life with dignity.30 States have an obligation to address such general conditions as “deprivation of indigenous peoples’ land, territories and resources” and “degradation of the environment”.31 The link between the right to land and the right to life is particularly strong in the case of indigenous peoples living in isolation or in initial contact, due to their special vulnerabilities which derive from their small populations, immunological fragility and full dependence on their ecosystems for their survival. 32 The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has also considered the rights to a healthy environment, cultural identity, food and water as autonomous rights, as well as their implications and particularities regarding indigenous peoples.33 13. States cannot ignore the disproportionate negative effects of climate change on indigenous peoples’ ways of life and must recognize indigenous peoples’ close connection with the environment. The Human Rights Committee has expressed the view that people who flee the effects of climate change and natural disasters should not be returned to their country of origin if essential human rights would be at risk on return.34 The Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment has highlighted that States have additional obligations with respect to members of certain groups especially vulnerable to environmental harm, in particular women, children and indigenous peoples. 35 III. Legal framework 14. The Declaration expresses and reflects legal commitments under the Charter of the United Nations, as well as treaties, judicial decisions, principles and customary international law.36 Indigenous peoples’ rights and responsibilities vis-à-vis land predate the 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, judgment, 17 June 2005. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 23 (1994) on the rights of minorities. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 21 (2009) on the right of everyone to take part in cultural life. See also Joel E. Correia, “Adjudication and its aftereffects in three Inter-American Court cases brought against Paraguay: indigenous land rights”, Erasumus Law Review, No. 1 (April 2018), pp. 43–56. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 36 (2019) on the right to life. Ibid. Second submission by the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin. Indigenous communities of the Lhaka Honhat Association (Our Land) v. Argentina, judgment of 6 February 2020; and the submission by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. Human Rights Committee, Teitiota v. New Zealand. A/HRC/25/53, para. 69. See A/HRC/36/56. 5