Isolated indigenous people and their self-determination : An analysis of strategies in the Colombian Amazon

Isolated tribes are groups of ¨invisible¨ people who have rejected and fled from the impacts of modernity, development, capitalism and globalization throughout time. Given that contact can lead to the extinction of these tribes, their isolation and our respect for their territories and livelihoods becomes a priority. Furthermore, these people are unknowingly and unwillingly immersed within states systems and constitutions that can grant them a unique meta-right of self-determination i.e. the right to isolation that is not compatible with universal human rights. Self-determination through isolation can be granted through: territorial concessions in the form of protected areas, pertinent institutions and appropriate laws that respect their life choices. Thus, intrinsic to isolated tribes the right to isolation allows for self-determination as non-domination (Young 2007), which opposes arbitrary intervention by any party into their territories. This means that states must live with uncertainty over possible violations of human rights within isolated peoples´ territories, thus yielding a non-presence through design by the state as the best possible strategy. Nevertheless, contextual and mediated perceptions about isolated peoples in larger society and its economic order can greatly affect these processes representing significant threats to the isolated peoples´ survival. For this reason, discourses (imaginaries) that represent isolated peoples as intrinsic subjects of particular rights are compared with discourses (imaginaries) that can lead to contact with larger society. This paper discusses the mentioned above through the case study of Puré National Natural Park, which has chosen a strategy to grant the right to isolation for the Yuri people in the Colombian Amazon.