The Mayangna (Sumo) Indigenous Community of Awas Tingni have filed suit in a Nicaraguan appeals court to force the government of Nicaragua to follow through with a landmark decision last year by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The government has failed to honor the promises made to the people of Awas Tingni after the Court’s groundbreaking ruling, which ordered it to demarcate and title the Mayangna land and designate $50,000 for works or services that would benefit the community. The government has granted a Korean logging company the rights to harvest timber on their ancestral lands, and repeated delays and failures to honor its obligations have marked its response to the Court’s decision. The Awas Tingni community, in cooperation with the Indian Law Resource Center, has filed suit in an attempt to enforce the Court’s decision.
