Bioethics and human rights: discrimination and protection of collective rights in indigenous communities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-2047Keywords:
bioethics, human rights, discrimination, collective rights, indigenous communities, public politics, human dignity, affirmative actionsAbstract
Introduction: Indigenous communities have historically faced discrimination and rights violations, leading to inequality and exclusion. This study examines the relationship between discrimination and the protection of both collective and individual rights within these communities, providing an empirical basis for the formulation of public policies and affirmative actions. Mehodology: A non-experimental, descriptive, and correlational quantitative methodology was employed, involving a sample of 200 participants from indigenous communities. A Likert scale questionnaire was used to measure discrimination and rights protection. Data were analyzed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests for normality, with Spearman correlations calculated. Results: Findings indicate that increased discrimination is associated with greater rights violations and, consequently, a heightened need for collective rights protection. This underscores the importance of implementing robust mechanisms to safeguard these rights in indigenous communities. Discussions and Conclusions: Acts of discrimination significantly impact rights violations and protection within indigenous communities, necessitating a bioethical and human rights perspective in addressing these issues through effective public policies and affirmative actions aimed at promoting equity and social justice.
Downloads
References
Altman, J. (2012). Indigenous rights, mining corporations, and the Australian state. In The Politics of Resource Extraction: Indigenous Peoples, Multinational Corporations and the State (pp. 46-74). https://bit.ly/4f3Mw16 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230368798_4
Anderson, I., Robson, B., Connolly, M., Al-Yaman, F., Bjertness, E., King, A., ... y Yap, L. (2016). Indigenous and tribal peoples' health (The Lancet–Lowitja Institute Global Collaboration): A population study. The Lancet, 388(10040), 131-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)00345-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)32465-5
Andorno, R., & Baffone, C. (2014). Human rights and the moral obligation to alleviate suffering. Suffering and bioethics, 185-200. https://bit.ly/4e9Y9lz DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199926176.003.0009
Babbie, E. R. (2020). The practice of social research. Cengage AU. https://bit.ly/4f3MAhm
Báez, G. P., Rogers, C. & Labrada, J. E. R. (Eds.). (2016). Language documentation and revitalization in Latin American contexts (Vol. 295). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. https://bit.ly/4cHBU6k
Baltazar, Á. R. Y., y Núñez, J. L. B. (2023). La justicia indígena en Ecuador: Un análisis desde los derechos humanos. RECIMUNDO: Revista Científica de la Investigación y el Conocimiento, 7(1), 22-32. https://bit.ly/3Zf9PPU DOI: https://doi.org/10.26820/recimundo/7.(1).enero.2023.22-32
Beauchamp, T. L. y Childress, J. F. (1994). Principles of biomedical ethics. Edicoes Loyola. https://bit.ly/3S8TRm1
CEPAL (2016). La matriz de la desigualdad social en América Latina. https://bit.ly/3B3vkcf
Corpuz, V. T. (2015). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. UN General Assembly Human Rights Council. https://bit.ly/3S6Cfaw
Creswell, J. W. & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage Publications. https://bit.ly/3xYNefg
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297-334. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02310555 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02310555
Diaz, E., Gigante, E. y Ornelas, G. (2015). Diversidad, ciudadanía y educación: sujetos y contextos. ResearchGate. 10.47380/UPNMX.LIBEDCC000016
Doyle, C. M. (2014). Indigenous peoples, title to territory, rights and resources: The transformative role of free prior and informed consent. Routledge. https://bit.ly/461fQRH DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315780665
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American journal of theoretical and applied statistics, 5(1), 1-4. https://bit.ly/47i5ayt DOI: https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
Figueroa Romero, D. y Sierra Camacho, M. T. (2020). Alertas de género y mujeres indígenas: interpelando las políticas públicas desde los contextos comunitarios en Guerrero, México. Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies/Revue canadienne des études latino-américaines et caraïbes, 45(1), 26-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/08263663.2020.1690781 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08263663.2020.1690781
Garnett, S. T., Burgess, N. D., Fa, J. E., Fernández-Llamazares, Á., Molnár, Z., Robinson, C. J., ... y Leiper, I. (2018). A spatial overview of the global importance of Indigenous lands for conservation. Nature Sustainability, 1(7), 369-374. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0100-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0100-6
Gómez Isa, F. (2019). La Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los derechos de los pueblos indígenas: un hito en el proceso de reconocimiento de los derechos indígenas. Revista Española de Derecho Internacional, 71(1), 119-138. https://bit.ly/466nREI DOI: https://doi.org/10.17103/redi.71.1.2019.1.04
Gracey, M. & King, M. (2009). Indigenous health part 1: Determinants and disease patterns. The Lancet, 374(9683), 65-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60914-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60914-4
Langdon, E. J. y Garnelo, L. (2017). Articulación entre servicios de salud y “medicina indígena”: reflexiones antropológicas sobre política y realidad en Brasil. Salud Colectiva, 13, 457-470. https://bit.ly/3VVxNfO DOI: https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2017.1117
Lightfoot, S. (2016). Global indigenous politics: A subtle revolution. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315670669 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315670669
Martínez Ortega, R. M., Tuya Pendás, L. C., Martínez Ortega, M., Pérez Abreu, A., y Cánovas, A. M. (2009). El coeficiente de correlación de los rangos de Spearman caracterización. Revista Habanera de Ciencias Médicas, 8(2), 0-0. https://bit.ly/3XA5gNR
Mateos Cortés, L. S., Dietz, G. y Mendoza Zuany, R. G. (2016). ¿Saberes-haceres interculturales? Experiencias profesionales y comunitarias de egresados de la educación superior intercultural veracruzana. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 21(70), 809-835. https://bit.ly/4d1jY6k
Meza-Lopehandía, M. (2013). El Convenio N° 169 sobre pueblos indígenas y tribales de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo. En J. Aylwin, M. Meza-Lopehandía, y N. Yáñez (Eds.), Los pueblos indígenas y el derecho (pp. 337-439). LOM Ediciones. https://bit.ly/3LnMq6J
Merino, R. (2015). The politics of extractive governance: Indigenous peoples and socio-environmental conflicts. The Extractive Industries and Society, 2(1), 85-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2014.11.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2014.11.007
Merino, R. y Valencia, A. (2018). Descolonizar el Derecho. Pueblos indígenas, derechos humanos y Estado plurinacional. https://bit.ly/4d3Pxg5
OIT (1989). Convenio No 169 sobre pueblos indígenas y tribales en países independientes. https://bit.ly/3LnMq6J
Olaiz-Barragán, G. F., Tovar-López, K. A., Cruz-Maya, B. y González-Roldán, E. (2022). Bioética y políticas públicas en salud en México. Gaceta Médica de México, 158(3). https://bit.ly/46bEsHp DOI: https://doi.org/10.24875/GMM.22000003
Ramírez, S. (2017). Pueblos indígenas, identidad y territorio-Sin territorio no hay identidad como Pueblo-. Revista Jurídica de la Universidad de Palermo, 15(1). https://bit.ly/3W1ZXpA
Rice, R. (2017). Indigenous political representation in Latin America. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.243 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.243
Rodríguez, C. y Baquero, C. A. (2015). Reconocimiento con redistribución: El derecho y la justicia étnico-racial en América Latina. Djusticia. https://bit.ly/461gkHv
Salkind, N. J. (Ed.). (2010). Encyclopedia of research design (Vol. 1). Sage. https://bit.ly/3S7B4Y6
Simon, J. W. & González-Parra, C. (2018). National Development and Indigenous Rights in Latin America: Analysis of the tensions produced with the Chilean State by the Mapuche demand for self-determination. http://hdl.handle.net/10928/1147
Stavenhagen, R. (2006). Los derechos de los pueblos indígenas: esperanzas, logros y reclamos. En Pueblos indígenas y derechos humanos (pp. 21-28). Servicio de Publicaciones= Argitalpen Zerbitzua. https://bit.ly/3XXoSgx
Ten Have, H. (2016). Global Bioethics: An Introduction. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315648378 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315648378
Theriault, N. (2017). A forest of dreams: Ontological multiplicity and the fantasies of environmental government in the Philippines. Political Geography, 58, 114-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2015.09.004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2015.09.004
Treviño, E., Villalobos, C. y Baeza, A. (2016). Recomendaciones de políticas educativas en América Latina en base al TERCE. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12799/4513
Tsosie, R. (2019). Indigenous sustainability and resilience to climate extremes: Traditional knowledge and the systems of survival. Conn. L. Rev., 51, 1009. https://bit.ly/3Wljr9N
UNDRIP (2007). Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas. https://bit.ly/4cHDB3G
UNESCO (2005). Declaración Universal sobre Bioética y Derechos Humanos. https://bit.ly/4bE3KPr
Vargas, R. (2007). Exclusión, marginación y desarrollo de los pueblos indígenas. Ra Ximhai: Revista Científica de Sociedad, Cultura y Desarrollo Sostenible, 3(3), 693-706. https://bit.ly/3LlMLXo DOI: https://doi.org/10.35197/rx.03.03.2007.12.rr
Vigoya, M. V. (2016). La interseccionalidad: una aproximación situada a la dominación. Debate Feminista, 52, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.df.2016.09.005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.df.2016.09.005
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Henry Martínez Ruque, Myriam Arteaga Marín

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Non Commercial, No Derivatives Attribution 4.0. International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.), that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).