The Saramaka people are one of the largest Maroon tribes, amounting to around 20,000 persons living in over 70 villages located along the Suriname River, one of the main watercourses in the country. They have occupied their territory since at least the early 18th century when their ancestors escaped coastal plantations and moved into the forest. Their freedom from slavery, to ownership of their territory and to political and cultural autonomy were recognized by treaty with the Dutch in 1762. (...)

Saramaka religious and cultural identity and their physical survival is inextricably linked to their forest and its productive capacity. Threats to the forest and its environmental quality are threats to the Saramaka as a whole. (...)

After discovering that there territory had be given to logging and mining companies, the Saramaka began organizing and held a series of meetings among themselves to discuss how to deal with Tacoba and the other concessions. They agreed to file formal complaints with the Suriname government asking that the concessions be revoked and that their rights to their territory be legally recognized. Three complaints were submitted between October 1999 and October 2000, none of which received any response. They also evaluated their legal options to determine if they could challenge the concessions in court. They concluded that Surinamese law was so stacked against them that resort to the courts would be futile, offering them no possibility of success. As mentioned above, Surinamese law vests ownership of all unencumbered land and resources in the state, there are no environmental laws and Indigenous and Maroon rights are not in any way legally guaranteed.

After reaching this conclusion, the Saramaka decided to seek the protection of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and filed a petition there in October 2000. Filed by the Association of Saramaka Authorities, an organization composed of the leaders of the Upper Suriname River Saramaka communities, and twelve village leaders representing each of the Saramaka matrilineal clans, the petition cited Suriname’s failure to recognize Saramaka rights to land and resources as defined by the American Convention on Human Rights and active violation of those rights due to the logging and mining concessions granted in Saramaka territory.

This is the first time that either Indigenous peoples or Maroons from Suriname have challenged Suriname’s failure to recognize and respect their land rights in an international human rights body and, if successful, may represent a precedent that all other Indigenous peoples and Maroons can benefit from. (...)

Given the characteristics of the instant case, it is necessary to understand the concept of property in indigenous communities. Among indigenous communities, there is a communal tradition as demonstrated by their communal form of collective ownership of their lands, in the sense that ownership is not centered in the individual but rather in the group and in the community. By virtue of the fact of their very existence, indigenous communities have the right to live freely on their own territories; the close relationship that the communities have with the land must be recognized and understood as a foundation for their cultures, spiritual life, cultural integrity and economic survival. For indigenous communities, the relationship with the land is not merely one of possession and production, but also a material and spiritual element that they should fully enjoy, as well as a means through which to preserve their cultural heritage and pass it on to future generations.
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