In Ecuador the traditional indigenous justice has been practiced alongside with the national justice since the conquest in the 16th century. As of 1998 it is legally recognized by the state through the ratification of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention C169 and the subsequent adoption of a new constitution. Since then the rights of the indigenous peoples have been further developed by the adoption of Ecuador’s present constitution in 2008. In this thesis the indigenous justice is examined from a human rights perspective and especially the responsibility of the Ecuadorian state in guaranteeing the human rights of its indigenous citizens is discussed.In order to collect empirical material for the thesis a field study was carried out in the Andean region of Ecuador. Individuals with knowledge of, and experience in, the indigenous system of justice were interviewed in primarily the capital Quito and in the indigenous Kichwa-village Apatug.The findings from the field study give an understanding of how the indigenous justice is practiced among the indigenous people Kichwa today and the cultural values that support it. The field study also shows that the Ecuadorian state is not succeeding in guaranteeing the human rights within the indigenous justice. Especially the failure of protecting its citizens from corporal punishments is a violation of human rights.

At the turn of the 21st century, truth commissions arose as a new possibility to address the violence and trauma of removing Indigenous children from their families and nations in what is now known as North America. The creation of two truth and reconciliation commissions in Canada and Maine marked an important step in addressing Indigenous demands for justice and the end of harm, alongside Indigenous calls for truth-telling. Holding Indigenous conceptions of justice at its core, this dissertation offers a comparative tracing of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2009-2015) and the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2013-2015) as they investigated state practices of removing Indigenous children from their homes and nations. More specifically, this dissertation examines the ways these truth commissions have intersected with Indigenous stories and how Indigenous stories can inform how we understand the work of truth and reconciliation commissions as they move to provide a form of justice for our communities. Within both commission processes, stories of Indigenous experiences in residential schools and the child welfare system were drawn from the perceived margins of settler colonial society in an effort to move towards truth, healing, reconciliation and justice. Despite this attempted inclusion of stories of Indigenous life experiences, I argue that deeply listening to Indigenous stories ¬¬in their various forms—life/ experiential stories, and traditional stories—illuminates the ways that the practice of reconciliation has become disconnected from Indigenous understandings of justice. As such, I argue that listening to Indigenous stories, not just hearing the words but instead taking them to heart, engaging with them and allowing them to guide us, moves toward more informed understandings of what justice looks like for Indigenous communities. / Graduate / 2022-09-12

The Constitution of Peru claims a law, which regulates the coordination of the indigenous justice with the national judicial system. But since 1993 when the Constitution was enacted, Congress has failed to fulfill this task. The article describes the problems resulting from this legal vacuum and substantiates the need for a law of intercultural coordination of the judiciaries. However, the content of the required law is controversial. In the discussion four currents of opinion can be determined. The end points are characterized, on the one hand, by the «minimalists», who want to reduce the legal competences of the communities to a minimum, and the «maximalists», on the other hand, who advocate unlimited competences of the indigenous judiciary. The article analyzes the arguments of the different currents of opinion and identifies the challenges of the legislative work. / La Constitución Política del Perú reclama una ley de coordinación de la justicia comunitaria con las instancias del Poder Judicial. Sin embargo, el Congreso sigue, desde 1993 cuando se promulgó la Carta Magna, sin cumplir con esta tarea. El artículo describe los problemas que resultan de este vacío legal y fundamenta la necesidad de la Ley de Coordinación Intercultural de Justicia. No obstante, el contenido de la ley es controvertido. En el debate se puede determinar cuatro corrientes de opinión. Los extremos son representados, por un lado, por los «minimalistas», que quieren reducir las facultades de los fueros comunitarios a un mínimo, y los «maximalistas», por el otro lado, que reclaman competencias ilimitadas para las instancias comunales. El artículo analiza los argumentos de las diferentes corrientes e identifica los retos de la tarea legislativa.