The Panamanian government’s failure to grant all indigenous peoples title to their land or to even create an indigenous land titling mechanism is a violation of the Naso’s rights under their country’s Constitution, which recognizes that indigenous peoples are entitled to their traditional lands. The government’s failures in this regard even more clearly violate the American Convention on Human Rights, which Panama has ratified, as well as other international human rights laws.
Panama has agreed to be bound by the judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which has repeatedly ruled that governments must recognize indigenous land claims and create land titling mechanisms. And in 2007, the Supreme Court of nearby Belize found that the Belizean government’s failure to recognize and protect indigenous lands was both unconstitutional and a violation of international law.
The work begins
A team of lawyers from Akin Gump reviewed the history of the Naso’s land claims, and the lawyers have been advocating for those claims in a number of arenas. The lawyers took their first trip to Panama in 2008, where they met with the Naso in their communities. They have traveled to Panama several times since to meet with government officials, national Assembly leaders, and others.
At the international level, the team obtained support from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, and from the Organization of American States. 
The lawyers organized a thematic hearing on Panamanian indigenous land claims before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the fall of 2008, and have brought a case on behalf of the Naso to the Commission as well.
The Naso are clearly entitled to legal recognition of their traditional lands. With help from the team at Akin Gump, that goal may at last be within reach.
Naso of Panama
- Judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2001 in the Case of the Mayagna (Sumo)Awas Tingni Community v. Nicaragua.