Chapter X. Violence against indigenous women in Latin America: An analysis of the case Law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Although the inter-American system, grounded in the Belém do Pará Convention, requires States to provide enhanced protection for women against violence, the reality faced by indigenous peoples presents challenges that often go beyond traditional legal frameworks. In this vein, this chapter examines the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) to understand how specific protections have been developed against the structural violence that affects indigenous women. The analysis goes beyond a simple review of the law to focus on how the Court has interpreted these obligations in contexts of high vulnerability, where discrimination is not an isolated incident but a historical intersection of exclusions that national justice systems have systematically failed to address. In this regard, the analysis focuses on emblematic cases from Mexico and Guatemala, such as the Plan de Sánchez Massacre or the case of Valentina Rosendo Cantú; the text exposes the use of sexual violence and enforced disappearance by military forces as deliberate tactics of cultural destruction. It highlights the existence of “triple discrimination” based on gender, ethnicity, and poverty, and severely questions the jurisdiction of military courts, which have historically served to perpetuate impunity for these crimes. It also addresses the effectiveness of the Inter-American System, which depends on overcoming structural impunity—particularly that stemming from the misuse of military jurisdiction—and underscores the urgency of transitioning to a model of justice that incorporates enhanced due diligence with an intercultural approach.