Page 223 - El État de los derechos humanos en el desarrollo sostenible

EL ETAT DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS EN EL DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE

Certain ideas, which were introduced in the 1970s by the theory of “sustainable
development”, looked for reconciliation in the interests of the economy, society and the

environment, and to this day we have not yet succeeded in achieving the satisfactory results

to resolve these serious environmental and societal problems. It is in this context that new

perspectives like that of well-living and environmental justice suggest a change in the
paradigm, in order to achieve these objectives and create concrete responses to the inter-

generational and environmental injustice which affects numerous local communities and in

general, living beings.
1. THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW PARADIGM: THE SUMAK KAWSAY APPROACH

The emergence of the “well living” approach is connected to the surge in the indigenous

movement that occurred during the 1980s to the 1990s, whereby they sought the recognition
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of their right to self-determination and their right to adopt their own ways of life . These
claims have been enshrined in the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No.

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169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples , in particular article 7, which states:

“The peoples interested should have the right to decide their own

priorities concerning the process of development, to the degree in which it

affects their lives, their beliefs, their institutions and their spiritual well-
being and the lands that they occupy and use in a manner to exert as

249 Maïté NIEL, El concepto del Buen vivir, Trabajo de investigación, Madrid, Instituto Universitario de Estudios
Internacionales y Europeos “Francisco de Vitoria”, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 2011,p.2.
250 INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANISATION, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (n.169), 26th of june 1989,
1650 R.T.N.U. (no. 28383).

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