Rights Claims and Conflict Transformation in Indigenous Contexts: The Case of the Awajún in Peru

Abstract

This dissertation examines how conflicts between the Peruvian State and the indigenous Awajún people can be transformed and further escalation prevented by focusing on rights claims. This study analyses the Awajún’s main rights claims, their perspective on their relationship with the Peruvian State including the main causes of conflict and their views on what the key aspects of conflict transformation with the State should be. The research is focused on the perspective of the indigenous people, not only in the light of the research objectives but also because a decolonized approach that gives voice to the indigenous perspective is the most culturally appropriate approach for an outsider researcher to carry out research with indigenous people. In order to ensure a decolonized research design, one-on-one, in-depth interviews were selected for data collection since these allow a maximum input of the participants and provide the kind of detailed and rich information that is required for this study. Findings illustrate that a rights-based conflict transformation approach, which applies the typical aspects of a rights-based approach focusing on the specific collective rights claims of the Awajún as well as the main principles of conflict transformation focusing on improving relationships, offers the best prospects of preventing violent confrontations.