Case History: Julia Cabello Alonso
Human rights lawyer Julia Cabello Alonso faces a possible one-year suspension from practicing law or disqualification from the Paraguay Bar Association for her outspoken activism in defense of indigenous communities in Paraguay.
Julia Cabello Alonso is a human rights lawyer and Coordinator of Tierraviva, an indigenous rights organisation which works to promote and defend the rights of indigenous communities, in particular their rights to the land and natural resources in Paraguay.
Human rights lawyer Julia Cabello Alonso faces a possible one-year suspension from practicing law or disqualification from the Paraguay Bar Association for her outspoken activism in defense of indigenous communities in Paraguay.
The President of the Supreme Court of Justice accused Cabello Alonso of "misconduct" following the human rights defenders' criticism of a Supreme Court decision to review the constitutionality of the 2014 expropriation law, that allows for the return of more than 14,404 hectares of traditional land to the Sawhoyamaxa indigenous community.
The Sawhoyamaxa community of the Exnet nation have been living along a public highway in the Chaco region since they were displaced from their lands in 1992. In 2006, The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Government of Paraguay to return the land to the community within three years, after ruling that their rights had been violated.
In 2014 Paraguay enacted an expropriation law that allowed for the return of more than 14,404 hectares of traditional land to the Sawhoyamaxa indigenous community. Signed by President Cartes in June 2014, the law required corporations operating on the land to return it to the Sawhoyamaxa community. On 2 December 2014, the Supreme Court accepted an appeal from two German ranching companies challenging the constitutionality of the expropriation law.
In April 2015, the President of the Supreme Court of Justice accused human rights lawyer Julia Cabello Alonso of “misconduct” after she made public her criticisms of the courts decision to review the constitutionality of the law.
Tierraviva issued a press release concerning the Supreme Court decision to review the constitutionality of the 2014 law based on the second appeal. Julia Cabello Alonso spoke with the media claiming that the Supreme Court's decision not only put into question the rights of the indigenous community, but also impeded the fulfilment of the 2006 decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. As it stands, the expropriation process has been suspended pending the resolution of the constitutional challenge and the indigenous communities cannot access the 14.404 hectares.
