Indigenous land claims in Europe: The European Court of Human Rights and the decolonization of property

Abstract

This study examines the potential impact of recent developments in international human rights law relating to indigenous land claims on the protection of property under the European Convention on Human Rights. In a departure from colonial law the authors show how the doctrine of ancestral indigenous land title has recently been incorporated into international human rights law. This development, however, has yet to occur within the regime of the European Convention. The authors argue that the new decolonized approach to property can and should be adopted by the European Court of Human Rights in its interpretation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention.