Contemporary forms of cultural genocide in the natural resource sector: indigenous peoples’ perspectives from Bolivia and Colombia

This article re-conceptualises genocide on indigenous peoples by disentangling its cultural dimensions. Extractive and similar operations gradually deteriorate lands and environment, exerting severe impacts on territorial rights, eventually on their physical and cultural annihilation. The article approaches the crime of genocide in both its physical and cultural dimensions, demanding its integration into IHRL and criminal law. Recent ethnographic research in Bolivia and Colombia demonstrates how indigenous peoples are gradually exposed to genocidal policies despite strong legal frameworks. Such rights materialise in the form of prior consultation, land rights, prohibition of forced relocation and maintaining of organisational and decision-making procedures.