A judge recently ruled that the state of Suriname  must first consult the tribal and Indigenous communities before allocating land that is located near villages to third parties. The main objective of this is to obtain informed consent before making decisions that could have huge consequences for these communities.  Attorney-at-law Milton Castelen pointed out that the judge has also ruled that the state must pay a fine of SRD 10,000 for each day that the state fails to consult the communities. The ruling of the judge is based on the  Samaaka against Suriname verdict of the Inter-American Court for Human Rights. “With this ruling the Surinamese judge has taken the first step towards the protection of the Indigenous communities,” said Castelen who added that the verdict implicates that all economic rights were unlawfully allocated to third parties as of August 12th, 2008…[+]