The Protection of the Existence and Identity of Religious Minorities Under the United Nations Legal Framework: Between the Group-Centered and Person-Centered Approaches

Challenges to individual religious freedom in the Indigenous communities of Latin America

“…Whilst Indigenous autonomy is generally regarded as something positive, the existence of human rights abuses inside Indigenous communities has received relatively little attention in legal scholarship. (Alves 2020a;Alves 2020b;Petri et al 2023) Human rights abuses include severe violations of religious freedom, particularly of converts away from the traditional religion. Indeed, when Indigenous Christians refuse to obey the orders of the Indigenous leaders, they suffer human security threats including imprisonment, forced displacement, denial of access to water, healthcare and education, confiscation of homes and farmland, torture, and even death.…”