Legal pluralism and intercultural justice: a comparative case study among Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador

Bolivia and Ecuador passed through a constituent process in 2008-2009. Both Constitutions proclaimed the State as intercultural and plurinational, and legal pluralism was recognized. Indigenous communities had been working on these subjects for years, thinking that those concepts could be useful to create a more inclusive society, where all cosmovisions could participate in equal terms in the construction of a new form of State; where social conflict could be managed by intercultural justice; where different concepts of justice could respectfully co-exist. More than a decade has passed since then. In constitutional terms, it is not such a long time. However, the aim of the article is to test weaknesses and strengths of this new approach, through the analysis of national constitutional case-law. The comparison will be extended to Colombia, because there is a strong cross-fertilization between these three Andean countries. In fact, even if the Colombia Constitution does not mention interculturality among the principles to be applied to cultural issues, the Court has since long been developing a case-law on legal pluralism. Finally, some recent cases from the Interamerican Court of Human Rights (ICHR) will also be considered, as the Court is contributing to build a doctrine on interculturality in critical perspective, in defense of indigenous people’s rights.