www.ssoar.info "Justice is achieved if peace is restored": Indigenous Justice, Legal Pluralism, and Change in Peru and Ecuador Brandt, Hans-Jürgen Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Arbeitspapier / working paper Zur Verfügung gestellt in Kooperation mit / provided in cooperation with: Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (HSFK) Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Brandt, H.-J. (2017). "Justice is achieved if peace is restored": Indigenous Justice, Legal Pluralism, and Change in Peru and Ecuador. (PRIF Working Papers, 37). Frankfurt am Main: Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-54802-8 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Deposit-Lizenz (Keine This document is made available under Deposit Licence (No Weiterverbreitung - keine Bearbeitung) zur Verfügung gestellt. Redistribution - no modifications). 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No. 37 Working Papers Working „Justice is achieved if peace is restored“ Indigenous Justice, Legal Pluralism, and Change in Peru and Ecuador Hans-Jürgen Brandt September 2017 1 "Justice is achieved if peace is restored": Indigenous Justice, Legal Pluralism, and Change in Peru and Ecuador Hans-Jürgen Brandt1 ABSTRACT Partly for reasons of cultural identity and partly because the state has proved unable to protect them against criminality, indigenous communities in Peru and Ecuador have maintained their traditional judicial systems. Though recognized constitutionally, these systems continue to be a source of legal and political contention. Considering both the major social significance of indigenous justice as a means of conflict-resolution and the ongoing controversy over its scope, information about current judicial practice in the communities in question is surprisingly scant. It is on this gap in research that the present study focuses, examining in particular: the principles and rules applied in indigenous justice; the relative frequencies of different types of conflict and conflict-resolution; the problems associated with this type of justice; the differences between the various legal cultures reviewed; and key trends and determinants of change. The study, of mixed-method design, reveals that indigenous justice is primarily consensus-oriented. Its chief objective is to restore communal peace and reinte- grate offenders. The legal regulations and practices used to achieve these goals, however, are not static: the notion of autochthonous legal systems based on immutable ‘ancestral’ rules is a myth. Contrary to what this common preconception would suggest, the study indicates that any traditional legal norms that run counter to the interests of the local community are modified by the introduction of new legal rules, many of which – such as the protection of women from gender-based violence – derive from state law. Among the factors which indigenous representatives interviewed for this study considered key in bringing about change was local NGO-led education and training – notably on human rights. 1 INTRODUCTION: MAKING GOOD THE EMPIRICAL GAP: AIMS AND STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY As in other countries in Latin America, local campesino and indigenous justice, administered by elected communal officials and the village assembly, plays an important role in both Peru and Ecua- dor. It is the main instrument through which rural society resolves interpersonal conflict and assures peaceful coexistence. Although recognized constitutionally, indigenous justice remains controversial both legally and politically. The chief quarrel here is over the demarcation of legal competences be- tween community and state – an altercation fuelled by the failure of lawmakers to comply with con- stitutional provisions requiring them to enact coordinating legislation. On one side of the debate are the forces of conservatism and the captains of the oil, gas, and mining industries, whose operations are generally located in indigenous territories and who are therefore fearful of their employees falling foul of local justice. These groups seek to limit the scope of communal justice. On the other side are campesino and indigenous organizations struggling to get their cultural values respected and their autonomy secured. Their leaders call for local jurisdiction to be extended to all types of conflict. The general uncertainty over legal competences has led to community leaders being prosecuted for put- ting offenders in their villages through the local judicial process.2 1 Associate Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), Research Department: Intrastate Conflict. 2 For relevant cases from Peru, see: Renato Levaggi Tapia, ‘Situación de los casos de miembros de Comunidades Campesinas, Nativas y Rondas Campesinas denunciados ante Ministerio Público por el ejercicio de su función jurisdiccional’, in Javier La Rosa Calle and Juan Carlos Ruiz Molleda, (eds.), La Facultad Jurisdiccional de las Rondas Campesinas, Comentarios al Acuerdo Plenario de la Corte Suprema que reconoce facultades jurisdiccionales a las rondas PRIF Working Paper No. 37 2 Considering the social significance of communitarian justice and the ongoing clashes between the two judicial systems, it is surprising how little information is available on the actual practice of indig- enous justice. In Ecuador, there is widespread debate about justice in plurinational contexts3 and about the collective rights of members of indigenous groups.4 A general survey has also been pro- duced of the law systems of 17 of the country’s indigenous nations.5 Although studies exist which look at the issues globally, or discuss particular aspects of indigenous justice,6 there are very few empirical accounts of the judicial practice of indigenous communities.7 Peru, meanwhile, boasts a wide range of studies on indigenous peoples8 and on the rondas campesinas – ‘village patrols’ – responsible for ensuring local security and administering communal justice.9 A small number of these investigations look at the operation of communal justice amongst specific Peruvian ethnic groups,10 but what is lacking, here and in Ecuador, is systematic, cross-cultural analysis of the legal norms operating in the relevant communities and of the relative frequencies of different types of infringement and sanction. Likewise, there is a dearth of information on the similarities and differ- ences between the indigenous legal cultures involved and a failure to address the important question of what drives change in the judicial practice and legal frameworks of campesinos and indigenous peoples. It is on these gaps in research that the present study focuses. The questions the study will seek to answer are: What kinds of legal principles and norms operate in the different communities? What are the most frequent types of conflict and how are they resolved? What are the similarities and differences between the indigenous legal cultures under scrutiny? What is the influence of state law and the state judiciary on indigenous cultures? Is there anything to indi- cate that campesino and indigenous judicial practice is undergoing change? Section 1 of the text describes a series of mixed-method, multi-facet empirical investigations carried out between 2002 and 2016 and forming the basis for the present study. This is followed, in Section 2, by a clarification of the terms ‘campesinos’, ‘indigenous people’,11 and ‘indigenous law’. Section 3 sets out the key characteristics of ethnic legal systems in the context of the pluri-cultural, pluri-legal soci- eties of Peru and Ecuador. Section 4 then considers the objectives and principles of such systems, pointing up reparation of damaged social relations and restoration of peace at family and community campesinas (Lima: Instituto de Defensa Legal – IDL, 2010), pp. 9–19. In Ecuador, the emblematic La Cocha case saw individuals involved in the dispensation of communal justice brought before the criminal courts and have their case ultimately reviewed by the country’s Constitutional Court (Corte Constitucional del Ecuador, Sentencia No. 113-14-SEP- CC). 3 Carlos Espinosa Gallegos-Anda and Danilo Caicedo Tapia (eds.), Derechos Ancestrales, Justicia en Contextos Plurinacionales, Serie Justicia y Derechos Humanos/Neoconstitucionalismo y Sociedad (Quito: Ministerio de Justicia, 2009).